Backpack
by CoronaIgnis
Summary: A misunderstanding traps Danny, Sam, and four of their schoolmates in the Ghost Zone. With no weapons and no way out, can they even survive, much less keep Danny's secret intact? Adopted from shamrock17.
1. The Missing Map

First off, I do not own Danny Phantom. This disclaimer will apply throughout this entire fic, so I'm not going to bother writing any more disclaimers.

Second, I do not own the plot for this fic. The original _Backpack_ was written by Shamrock17, who put it up for adoption after about 29 chapters. The original is still up, if you want to read it- just don't put it on your alert list. Anyways, she agreed to let me rewrite it and finish it- in March. I haven't heard from her since then, and since it's been months, I decided to go ahead and start publishing. If this was the wrong thing to do, I sincerely apologize to her and promise to take down and/or revise the entire fic once I recieve word from her. In the meantime, enjoy the story.

* * *

><p>"I hate my half-life," Danny Fenton-Phantom moaned into the phone.<p>

"It can't be that bad."

"Uh, yes it can. First we had the mile run in gym, and I had to sabotage myself so no one connects slow, weak Fenton with fast, tough Phantom. Then we had two tests in my worst subjects, which did _not_ go over well. Then there were, like, five ghost attacks and I missed lunch because it's apparently Inter-dimensional Starve Danny Day. Oh, and there's a new scar on my leg. It looks kinda like a banana."

Jazz's voice was sympathetic. "Well, at least it's over."

Her brother snorted. "No it's not. _Dash Baxter _is my partner for that huge English project everyone's been worrying all week."

"You mean that blond jock who constantly beats you up, verbally abuses you, and has a major crush on me?"

"The one and only, and he should be here about-"

Ding dong! sang the doorbell. "-now. Oh, joy. Gotta go."

"Bye Danny. Love you."

"Love you too. Good luck in that seminar. Bye."

The doorbell rang again. It might have been Danny's imagination, but he thought it sounded angry. "Coming, coming," the halfa groaned.

The next two hours (or was it two centuries?) dragged on and _on_. Naturally, Dash made his partner do all the work. All the jock did was sit around and occasionally make a rude comment about his host's ghost-hunting parents. Danny ignored him, steadfastly paging through _Lord of the Flies _to figure out the symbolism of the conch shell. Unlike the quarterback, he wasn't on any sports teams. He needed this grade.

The halfa had just finished articulating his (ah, their) second main point when a plume of frost escaped his lips. A quick glance revealed that Dash hadn't noticed the breath. "Um, I forgot something we need for the essay in my room. Bye!" Before his partner could protest, Danny was gone.

The ghost was a species he'd never seen before, some bizarre panther-elephant hybrid thingy. Fortunately, it wasn't that tough, and the experienced fighter made short work of it before racing back home.

Dash was gone. Danny grinned. Maybe now his day would get better.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

* * *

><p>Dash Baxter, star quarterback of the Caspar High Ravens, couldn't stop smirking.<p>

Like Fentoad, he'd also had a rotten day. He'd fumbled the ball last night, and no one let him forget it, especially not his girlfriend Paullina. Then he'd gotten a Saturday morning detention with Lancer for shoving some random nerd into a locker. He didn't like the overweight English teacher- other adults turned a blind eye to the football team's activities, but Lancer had recently forgotten just how important Dash and his buddies were to the school.

The quarterback would never admit it, but he was secretly relieved that Danny Fenton was his English partner. The smaller boy was smart enough, though he would have to make sure Fentoad actually remembered to complete this assignment. Even better, the loser knew his place. He wouldn't whine at Dash to "do your fair share of the work" or whatever.

Then the wimp had run off in the middle of their meeting and left him alone. Jerk.

Even at seventeen, Dash had the attention span of a gnat. Without Fen-toenail there to provide food (his mom made great snickerdoodles), he quickly grew bored. What should he do? The jock briefly considered looking at the paper before discarding the idea. Proofreading was for nerds.

Growing grouchy, he looked around the Fenton's kitchen. Fridge, sink, cupboards, Fentoad's ratty purple backpack….

He did a double-take. Fenturd _never_ left his backpack just lying around. But there it was.

His curiosity piqued, the jock walked over to the backpack and began rummaging. A picture of Fen-toenail, Foley, and Manson; another of Fentina, his hot older sister, and some equally hot girl who looked like a female version of him (wait. Did that mean the dweeb was hot?); a couple of notebooks; an evil-looking ring (skull or no, Fentoad was _such _a girl); medical supplies; and, hidden between his algebra book and a binder, a folded piece of paper.

Deciding that the contents of the paper couldn't possibly be more boring than an empty kitchen, Dash opened it up. His eyes went wide.

The paper was labeled "Ghost Zone Map."

The quarterback's jaw sagged. _No one _had ever been into the legendary Ghost Zone (that time with the skeleton army didn't really count). But then, Fentoad's parents were ghost hunters, and they _did_ have that inter-dimensional portal in their basement. Did that mean the map was real?

A grin broke out on the jock's face. It _was _real! Okay, so he didn't know what the symbols meant (Who was Skulker and why did he have his own island?), but he'd gotten decent grades in geography and could probably find his way to something really cool, like treasure or a plant that gave people ghost powers.

With that thought in mind, Dash looked harder at the map. Some places, like Skulker's Island or Walker's Prison, were labeled in red. Others were blue: Clockwork's Tower, Far Frozen, Pandora's Palace, Phantom's Keep…. Phantom's Keep.

"This is better than making the winning throw." He held in his hands a map to _Danny Phantom's_ ghostly lair. It was too good to be true.

There was a clunking noise upstairs. Dash jerked, nearly ripping the map apart. Fentoad was back! He threw the backpack into its original position and ran for the door, thoughts whirling.

Ghost or not, Phantom was his idol. Dash wasn't half as obsessed as his girlfriend (though that wasn't saying much) but he had that squeaking plushie and a couple of T-shirts. He followed the hero's every exploit, and seeing him fight a ghost earlier that afternoon had made his day. The chance to actually talk with his hero, maybe even play a game of football, was a dream come true.

Even better, Phantom _always _helped people. Besides saving them from evil ghosts, he fought human criminals, raised money to rebuild Amity's office parks after ghost attacks, and helped little old ladies cross the street. Dash didn't want to admit it, but he needed help. Lately, he'd been feeling empty and depressed inside. It made no sense. He had a hot girlfriend, popularity, looks, everything, but these were becoming less and less important to him. He didn't know what Phantom would do, but Dash knew that befriending his hero (really befriending, not just the superficial stuff he shared with Kwan and the other guys) would go a long way towards healing him.

But enough angst, the jock ordered himself. How can you be angsty when you're going to meet Danny Phantom tomorrow? The angst vanished as an idea hit him. Paullina worshipped Phantom. Maybe if he introduced them, she would break up with him and he could date someone he actually liked! Laughing, the quarterback ran down the streets. He _had _to tell Paullina about this!

* * *

><p>"Crap crap crap crap <em>crap! <em>Where is it?"

The contents of Danny's backpack were strewn over his bed, totally obscuring the covers. He glared at the items as though they were responsible for his inconvenience. Where was his map of the Ghost Zone? He knew he'd put it in there!

Furious, the halfa searched through his belongings again. Then he froze. He _knew _that the map was in there earlier, and he _knew _that he hadn't taken it out. That left him with one inevitable conclusion. "Blood, blast and _fire!_" the hero hissed, using an oath from the Far Frozen.

Someone had taken his map!

Three and a half years of hiding his secret had made Danny paranoid. That was why, instead of suspecting that Dash had taken it yesterday, his mind instantly jumped to the worst possible conclusions: Vlad Masters-Plasmius or his relatives.

He didn't know which was worse. Vlad knew his secret, so he didn't have to worry about exposure, but the man was fruit loop. If he had the map, he'd probably use it to recruit Undergrowth and Ember, break into Clockwork's Tower, release Dan Phantom, and cap it all off by stealing Pandora's Box and taking over the world. That would be bad.

On the other hand, if Jack and/or Maddie had found it, they would probably think he was overshadowed and attack him with the Fenton Peeler or some other painful weapon. Then, once their son was out of the way, they would send some kind of ecto-bomb into Phantom's Keep, which would be equally bad.

"Flames above, below and-"

"DANNY! YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S ON THE PHONE FOR YOU!"

"-between," the halfa finished lamely. "Coming, Dad."

Sam Manson, his girlfriend of almost a year (their anniversary was coming up in a week), was naturally horrified by her boyfriend's news. She promised to come over immediately after school. Unfortunately, their other friend, Tucker Foley, was recovering from an early bout of the flu and couldn't help them brainstorm.

Classes were agonizing. Danny was a nervous wreck. Sam was slightly less paranoid, but she still jumped every time someone opened the door, half-expecting two angry ghost hunters to attack. As soon as the final bell rang, they ran into a broom closet so Danny could go ghost and fly them to FentonWorks. Once there, the two lovebirds began brainstorming.

Since neither adult Fenton had tried to dissect their halfa son, they could safely assume that neither Jack nor Maddie had taken the map. That left Vlad, but why hadn't he stolen anything else? Well, Sam pointed out, it didn't really matter. All that mattered was getting the map back before something went wrong.

The lovebirds had just finished perfecting their plan to raid his mansion when Jack burst through the door.

"The Ghostketeers are reuniting!" he cried ecstatically. "You two wanna join?"

Danny and Sam exchanged glances. Jack (being Jack) took that as an affirmative. "Great!" he exclaimed, grabbing their arms and dragging them downstairs.

The Ghostketeers consisted of Dash, his girlfriend Paullina, Star, and Valerie Gray. Danny didn't care about the first three except to note their presence, but the sight of his ex-crush triggered dozens of mental alarm bells. Valerie was Vlad's chief minion, a ghost hunter with a grudge against Phantom. Her presence confirmed all his worst fears.

As Jack blathered on about ghosts, his half-ghost son watched their visitors. No one was paying attention to the obese hunter. All of them, not just Valerie, were restless and bored.

Finally, the older Fenton ran up to the Ops Center to get his new Ghostketeers their spandex uniforms.

Dash grinned as he and the girls stood up. Danny tensed, but the populars ignored him. Instead, they made a beeline for the basement.

A scowling Danny intercepted them. "Going somewhere?"

"Back off, Fenton," ordered Paullina. "You can't stop us from getting the treasure or meeting Phantom."

Another time, the irony of her statement would have made him laugh. Instead, the halfa raised an eyebrow. "Um, Danny Phantom doesn't live in my basement." He lives in my bedroom, but you don't need to know that. "And we don't have any treasure down there either. Besides, that would be stealing, which is both wrong and illegal."

Dash shoved him aside. "We're not interested in your stupid basement," he snapped. "We're going to the Ghost Zone!" He and the girls descended the stairs.

Danny and Sam fought back smirks. There was no way that Dash would figure out how to open the portal, which needed Fenton DNA to operate. Still, better to be safe than sorry. The couple followed the A-listers down the steps.

For a few seconds, the intruders stared in silence at the vast metal bulk of the Fenton Portal. Then Valerie gave herself a little shake, reached into her bulging backpack, and extracted a tiny plastic baggie filled with red hair. Danny stared. "What is that?"

"It's a lock of your older sister's hair," the huntress explained. "I knew that the portal needs Fenton DNA to open, so I grabbed some last time I was here." She made it sound like it was perfectly normal to do so.

"Wow," muttered Sam, "that's not creepy _at all._"

Her boyfriend was beginning to get desperate. Without revealing his unnatural skills, there was no way to get Jazz's hair away from Valerie. All he could do was try to dissuade them.

"Okay, fine. You know how to work the portal, but what makes you think that you'll find Phantom or a treasure in there? The Ghost Zone is a pretty big place."

The intruders smiled. Danny's hackles rose. He did not like those smiles.

Without a word, Dash took something from his pocket.

The halfa froze. "Oh, you think that's a map? It's not. It's just a doodle I made 'cause I was bored. Lancer does that to you."

"Nice try, Danny," chuckled Valerie. "We all know it's genuine."

"Yeah, a genuine doodle."

The huntress snorted.

The good news: Vlad wasn't involved. If Dash had just gone through his backpack and stumbled across the map, the older halfa had nothing to do with anything. The bad news: four idiot human teenagers were going to step through the Fenton Portal and get themselves killed searching for some imaginary treasure. Danny might not like the other teens, but he was a hero at heart. He couldn't let them die.

If Tucker were there, he could have hacked the portal's computer system and made inter-dimensional travel impossible. Unfortunately, the techno-geek was stuck at home. There was only one way to keep them out.

Danny dropped into a fighting pose. Sam crouched beside him. She wasn't as good at fighting as her boyfriend, but three plus years of ghost hunting would give anybody skills.

Dash burst out laughing. "You're gonna fight _me_?"

Neither lovebird made a sound. Star, though, did. "Paullina, don't touch that!"

The halfa's head whipped around at an inhuman speed. Paullina, bored with the opposition, had started snooping through the lab equipment- specifically, a portable portal maker.

The hybrid leapt forward, but he was too late. Paullina pressed an innocuous-seeming button- and the world exploded in a flash of white. The last thing Danny felt before the light faded into blackness was a stinging pain across his cheek.


	2. No Escape

Danny, Sam and Tucker watched in vague amusement as their overweight English teacher grew wings and chased Pariah Dark into a chicken coop that had magically appeared in the middle of Caspar High. They were far more concerned with maintaining a decent conga line.

"What's so interesting about Lancer anyways?" Tucker wondered.

"No idea," shrugged Sam. Smiling, she turned to her boyfriend. "Danny, it's time to get up."

"Wha?"

"Danny! Get up already!"

Yelping in shock, the halfa jerked awake. He blinked stupidly at Sam's angry face. "I just had the weirdest dream."

"If you're talking about how Paullina blew up your mom's portable portal and got us stuck in the Ghost Zone, that wasn't a dream."

More blinking. "Actually, it was a different dream." Then her words penetrated his still-sleepy skull. "Wait, Ghost Zone!"

"It's not _my _fault!" Paullina whined, ignoring the obvious fact that yes, it was. "Your stupid parents shouldn't have left it lying around in the open."

Danny glared. He wasn't that close to the Fentons anymore- years of being hunted will do that to you- but some residual filial loyalty made him speak up. "It was in their lab, exactly where it was supposed to be. If you guys hadn't broken into my house for some stupid imaginary treasure, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"It's not imaginary," she sneered. "You just don't want me to take it."

"_There is no treasure!"_

"Shut up!" barked Valerie. Danny, Sam, and Paullina stared. The popular girl looked ready to start ranting, but the huntress beat her to it. "Danny's hurt, Paullina. Can you not see the cut on his face? Besides, we have bigger problems than finding some treasure. The map is gone."

The halfa groaned softly; this just got better and better. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" the girl exploded. "Dash and I have searched everywhere- my backpack, his pockets, the dirt. It's just not here!"

Star collapsed, limp as a wet noodle. "You mean… we're stuck here?"

Valerie nodded. Danny opened his mouth to speak, but Star and Paullina cut him off by bursting into tears.

"We'll never get out!"

"I want to go home!"

"The ghosts are gonna get us and we're gonna die and no one will find our bodies-"

"I can get us home," Danny snapped.

The two teens calmed down instantly, though they seemed a bit skeptical. Sam took over her boyfriend's speech. "Danny's parents are ghost hunters, remember? They know all about the Ghost Zone." That, of course, was a lie. The elder Fentons had never set foot in the Underworld, reasoning that as terrifying and threatening ghost hunters, they would be slaughtered on sight. In reality, they would probably just be ignored. Only a few losers like the Box Ghost and Vlad's vultures were afraid of Jack and Maddie Fenton.

The Goth girl continued, "That's why they made the map. They worried that someone would kidnap Danny and he'd have to get out of the Ghost Zone by himself, so they made him take the map to school so he could memorize it. He can get us home."

"That true, Fen…ton?" asked Dash.

Danny nodded. "See that door?" he asked. "The one with a music note and a guitar? That one belongs to Ember McLain, and she's about half an hour's walk from the Fenton Portal."

"Ember McLain was a ghost?" asked Paullina.

Her new guide nodded. "I'll tell you about it on the way back," he promised, walking off in the portal's direction. "Just to take your mind off things."

For the next forty minutes- Danny hadn't taken the popular girls' slowness into account- the young halfa told them everything he knew about Ember's abilities: how she used music to control minds, how her guitar could be used to enhance other ghosts' powers, how shouting her name gave her strength, how the badly named Fenton Phones could protect you from her control. He didn't mention any specific battles, as that would give too much away, but only things Jack and Maddie might know (at least, things they might know in some alternate universe where they were actually competent).

Oddly enough, the little group didn't encounter any ghosts. No one knew why. Danny thought they might be off partying- he vaguely remembered getting an invitation on his Z-mail account. Valerie loudly speculated that they were conspiring to take over the world. Eventually Sam told her to shut up before Star had a breakdown, and they continued in tense silence.

When the portal was in sight, four of the full-humans took off running. Sam and Danny glanced at each other fondly. They liked the Ghost Zone with its swirling green skies, floating rocky islands, randomly spaced doors, and eccentric inhabitants. Then they, too, jogged after the others.

Dash, being an athlete, was the first to reach the portal. He stared at it in horror before letting out a wail of despair. "No, no, _no!"_

"It's closed!" shrieked Valerie. Star began to cry again.

The halfa frowned. "Hey, Dash, could you lift me up so I can reach it?"

"Whatever," the jock mumbled listlessly. He hoisted the smaller male and helped him balance on his shoulders. "Whoa, Fenton, you're really light."

Of course I'm light, Danny thought grouchily. I'm a halfa. My bones are hollow. My muscles are constructed of a different material than yours. But you don't need to know that, so I'll just pretend I didn't hear you.

He pounded on the door, fists banging against metal. "If they just open the portal, they can get a rope and we'll be home."

"That's actually really smart," said Dash, amazed.

"Thanks." Danny switched hands.

"GHOST!" screamed Jack's voice. The trapped humans and halfa exchanged relieved grins. They were saved!

"No, it's me!" Danny shouted.

Something crashed. Hopefully it wasn't anything too important. Then Jack shouted, "Maddie! That ghost kid's on the other side of the portal!"

'That ghost kid's' jaw dropped, stretching the half-healed cut he'd gotten as the portable portal exploded. Technically, Jack was right, but that didn't make him feel any better. "No, Dad, it's me! It's Danny! You've gotta let us through!"

"We'll never let you through, ghost kid!" shouted Maddie's voice. "And how dare you impersonate our son. We'll never open the portal again, so you can rot in your filthy dimension for all eternity."

"Say something!" Danny hissed.

"Mrs. Fenton!" yelled Sam. "Let us through!"

"Wow, that ghost kid does a really good woman impersonation."

"I'm not a woman impersonator! I'm Sam Manson, Danny's girlfriend!"

"Nice try, spook!" was Jack's gleeful response. "Hey Maddie, we should celebrate."

"With fudge?"

"…I love you."

After another minute of pounding, Danny finally acknowledged that his parents had left. Groaning, he jumped off Dash's shoulders. "Of all the rotten luck…."

"How could they mistake you for Phantom?" wondered Paullina. "You're not cool enough."

Star sniffled, but she didn't break down. She seemed to have resigned herself to their impending doom.

"Where now?" Valerie asked.

Danny frowned thoughtfully. They could try to find a natural portal, but those were unpredictable and dangerous. Wulf could make portals, but he was in the human realm. That left the Infi-map in the Far Frozen. The halfa smiled; he liked Frostbite's yeti-like people. Even better, they were friendly enough that they'd let five-and-one-half humans borrow the artifact for a few minutes.

Unfortunately, there was a tiny problem in his plan. The Far Frozen was four days away.

"I think," the halfa lied slowly, "that there's another stable natural portal in this one arctic realm. It's a bit of a walk, but it's our only other option."

The full-humans sighed. Valerie summed up all their feelings. "What've we got to lose?"

An hour had passed before anyone started to complain. Valerie knew that she should be grateful that it had taken so long, but that didn't stop her from gritting her teeth when Paullina began whining. She had stupidly worn high heels "so my legs look hot for the ghost boy" and though she'd taken them off when they started walking, her feet hurt. They weren't on a smooth path, after all, but a rocky plain. After a few minutes of listening to her complaints, the huntress snapped. "Maybe if you'd worn practical shoes like I told you your poor little piggies wouldn't be going emo on us!"

"Look," grumbled Danny, "how about we stop for a minute? She can have my shoes."

Valerie smiled as their group sat down. Who would have thought that Danny Fenton would be the one to hold them all together? She watched curiously as the other teen reached into his backpack and pulled out… a first aid kit?

The huntress's confusion only increased as her ex-boyfriend treated Paullina's torn feet with the air of a professional, swabbing them with disinfectant before wrapping them in gauze. What was he, some kind of battlefield medic?

"What time is it?" wondered Dash.

"Seven-o-six," Danny replied absently, stuffing his socks into his shoes so they would fit Paullina's smaller feet.

Valerie looked at her watch in surprise. "He's right," she commented. "Wow, you've got a really good internal clock."

A smile flickered across the boy's face. "Thanks. It's something I picked up from my godfather. If you think my _internal clock_ is good, you should see his." Sam chuckled. Evidently this was some kind of inside joke.

"I can't believe that we haven't been attacked yet," Star commented.

The Goth groaned. "You shouldn't have said that. Now a ghost has no choice but to attack."

Her boyfriend hissed. Valerie stared at him. Why was his breath visible? It wasn't that cold.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!" shrieked an obnoxiously familiar voice. "BEWARE!"

"Told you so," groused Sam.

Valerie began to panic. Without her suit, she couldn't beat any ghosts, but if she became the Red Huntress, everyone would hate her. After all, the huntress was Danny Phantom's enemy, and everyone here was a Phantom Phan.

Then Danny solved her dilemma by _jumping _five feet in the air, grabbing the spook by its coveralls, and using his free hand to punch it in the face. Valerie's jaw sagged as the Box Ghost fell towards the rocky isle.

The specter's attacker dropped, rolled, jerked up to grab his enemy's leg. Danny swung his opponent into the rock once, twice, three times before the spook fled. It was like her ex had become someone else, someone deadly and fierce as Phantom himself.

Then he turned around, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck. Only a few flecks of green blood proved that she hadn't been hallucinating.

"How did you _do _that?" breathed Dash.

Danny reddened. "My parents are ghost hunters, and that was only the Box Ghost. It's not like he's tough to beat anyways."

As he spoke, Valerie noticed something else. "Your cut!"

"What?"

"That cut you got when the portal exploded. It's gone!"

Her ex's pale hand touched his now-smooth cheek. His eyes went wide. For a second, Valerie thought she saw fear in his face, but that was ridiculous. Why would he be afraid?

"Well, that's weird," the boy mumbled. "Maybe it's because I got some of his goop on me? I mean, I've always been a fast healer, but this is pushing it." He laughed nervously. "So, who wants supper?"

"I do," answered Sam.

Unlike Paullina, Valerie had come prepared. She had enough rations for nine meals for four people. With Danny and Sam taken into account, they had enough food for two days and enough water for three.

After hearing this, Danny frowned. "Actually, I'm not that hungry," he mumbled. "I'll, um, go see what's over that random hill over there."

Valerie couldn't understand why he would want to do more walking, but she let him go. Maybe he'd find one of those natural portals he'd been talking about.

The teen didn't find a portal, but he did stumble across some bizarre fruit trees. The food he brought back looked like purple banana-pears. Normally everyone would have snubbed it, but they knew they needed all the food they could get. Surprisingly, the banana-pears were delicious.

The rest of the evening passed without incident. They stopped around ten, and Danny took out his first aid kit to heal everyone's feet. His own feet were blemish-free, which he chalked up to the Box Ghost's goo.

Valerie was the last to be treated, but she collapsed into sleep before Danny could get started. Smiling fondly, the half-ghost phased off her shoes and went to work. They would have a long day tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Z-mail is ghostly email. It stands for Zone mail. If Gmail wasn't taken already, I would have used that. And yes, the ghosts really are at a party. They just somehow forgot to invite Boxy. <em>No idea<em> how that happened. : )

-Corona


	3. Hints and Hauntings

Morning came too quickly. Danny groaned, trying to hide his face from the sudden brightening that was the Ghost Zone's dawn but quickly gave up. They'd made surprisingly good time yesterday, especially since he'd carried the sleeping teens another ten or eleven miles before finding a spot similar enough to their campsite that they wouldn't know they'd moved. It was a good thing that halfas, even teenaged ones, didn't need much sleep. Still, they would need to get going if they wanted to keep their lead.

"Hey, Sam. Sam, wake up."

The Goth girl groaned. "Five more minutes, Mr. Hyde," she moaned.

Her boyfriend stiffened. "Who's Mr. Hyde?"

Sam blinked sleepily at him. "My stuffed bat-bear," she mumbled, stretching luxuriously. "You should be jealous, Danny. He sleeps with me every night."

The hybrid laughed. He remembered the plushie now; Tucker claimed that it gave him nightmares. Of course Sam slept with it. "Well, then, I'll just need to lay some kind of claim to you so Mr. Hyde the bat-bear knows who he's messing with." He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

Sam grinned. "You can stop, I'm awake now," she joked. Then, noticing the others, she frowned. "Danny, what are we going to do? I'm not sure if they can survive the Far Frozen."

He sighed. "If the worst happens, I'll fly whoever's freezing to the nearest medical facility. I can carry two, three if someone rides piggyback, and Valerie can bring the other person on her jet sled once we convince her not to shoot me. I'm not going to let them die, Sam, though I really hope it doesn't come to that."

She nodded. "I know. It's just that you sometimes forget full-humans don't have your tolerance for the cold."

Danny smiled. "I'm an ice elemental. What did you expect? Personally, I'm more worried about keeping Frostbite quiet. He still refuses to call me Danny."

Soft laughter. "Yeah. He'll call you Great One, Mighty Conqueror of Pariah, Savior of the Ghost Zone, Champion-Defender, Ma-"

"I get the idea. I just hope we can make him call me by name."

"Not gonna happen."

"Yeah, I know. Now come and help me wake these guys up."

After a meager breakfast of Valerie's rations and leftover banana-pears, the ragged group set out. Danny ate the smallest meal- as a halfa, he could "feed" off the emotional energy of humans and even ghosts, though he preferred to rely on human food. "Eating" emotions always felt uncomfortably close to cannibalism. Now, though, he had to spare food for the full-humans. Besides, it wasn't like there was a dearth of emotional energy for him to absorb.

"On the road again," Danny murmured as they resumed their journey.

By midmorning, a great deal of the preps' awe had worn off. After all, you can only stare at a green sky for so long before it gets old. They were still afraid, of course- no one was that stupid- but as the luxury of exploring another dimension evaporated, boredom came to replace it. Danny held their misery off until lunch by pointing out interesting landmarks and telling them about ghosts, but when lunch rolled around everyone was heartily sick of that conversation.

"We could sing or something," suggested Star between bites of her granola bar. "I mean, we haven't seen any ghosts or anything."

Sam glared. "Didn't you learn your lesson after last night?" she hissed. "You just jinxed it!"

"Ghost child!" bellowed a deep male voice, right on schedule. "Relinquish to me what is rightfully mine!"

"Sorry," squeaked Star.

Danny stared at where the voice was coming from. "Uh, look, Mr. Ghost sir, there aren't any ghost children here, and none of us have anything that belongs to you. Have you checked the lost and found?" He held up three fingers and looked significantly at Sam. The Goth girl nodded and her boyfriend returned his attention to the ghost. Good, he hadn't noticed Sam's actions.

"Very funny, whelp," snapped Skulker, flashing into visibility. "You know what I want- your pelt."

"Ew!" screamed two female voices. Danny ignored them. His eyes flickered towards Sam, who suddenly let out a shriek.

Skulker, not expecting the Goth girl's uncharacteristic reaction, spun around with a confused expression on his metallic face. As he turned, Sam tossed something towards her boyfriend. Danny caught it. In a single fluid motion, he reversed the object's momentum and threw it into the back of the robot's neck. One, two, three bolts popped loose, and the suit's head flew from its shoulders. Skulker really needed to redesign his armor.

Ignoring his classmates' shock, Danny charged, scooping up the head and carrying it away from the body. "According to my parents, Skulker here is powerless without his super-suit." The boy stuck his hand into the robot's mouth before pulling it back. The mouth was blocked by a sheet of metal that he couldn't phase through. Huh, maybe Skulker _had_ redesigned his suit.

"He looks like a monster, but he's really just a little blobby thing," the halfa continued. Frowning in concentration, he poked a finger into the head's eye socket. "He lives in the suit's head, so I have to get him out. It's kind of like how the ancient Egyptians would take the brains of dead people out through their noses."

"Double ew," whined Paullina.

Danny grinned. "Got him." He showed his classmates the green blobby form.

Skulker glared. Funnily enough, it wasn't half as intimidating without his suit. "I'll get you for this," the hunter vowed.

"That's nice," his enemy replied. Grinning, the hero threw the little ghost as far as he could. "I think we should dissect his battle suit, steal the weapons, and toss the rest of it over the side."

His girlfriend nodded. "Sounds good to me." She looked at the populars. "What are you guys staring at?"

"Fenton cut himself when he was, um, digging around that head," Dash explained. "But now the cut's gone."

"Did you get goop on yourself again?" Sam asked quickly.

"I must have," her boyfriend replied. "I mean, there's no other explanation for why I keep healing so quickly."

Valerie had an idea. "Maybe we should get more ghost goop for your first aid kit." Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed Skulker's head.

"My feet!" exclaimed Paullina. "Put some on my feet!" She tore off Danny's shoes.

The other girl glared. "We should save this for real emergencies instead of a minor discomfort. Don't you know anything about prioritizing?"

Naturally, the cheerleader ignored the huntress's advice. She grabbed Skulker's head, found a blob of ectoplasm, and slathered it all over her feet. Danny flinched. Healing was one of his powers; he really didn't want to explain why the goop cure didn't work on anyone else.

Right on cue, Paullina wailed, "It's not working!" She glared. "Why does it only work on you?"

Think fast, Fenton-Phantom. "Maybe it's because I've been around ghosts all my life? I really don't know."

"Let me try something," Valerie muttered. She picked up Sam's knife, a gorgeous dragon-hilted dagger. It was a thank-you gift from Princess Dora of Aragon after Team Phantom had overthrown her brother and given her the crown. Knife in hand, the huntress advanced on Danny.

Naturally, this made him a wee bit nervous. "What are you doing?"

"I think there's a time limit on how long the ectoplasm works," she explained. "I'm just gonna give you a little nick to make sure."

"No thanks."

"But it might be important," Valerie said. "If we can't store this goop, we shouldn't take any."

"No thanks," the hybrid repeated.

Valerie sighed, stopped. "All right," she muttered sadly. Danny smiled, turned away. The second his back was exposed, the huntress leapt forward, knife flashing.

If Danny had stayed still, Valerie would have danced around him and nicked his face. Unfortunately, the huntress hadn't taken his heroic reflexes into account: one of the rules of combat was keep the face safe. It held important things like eyes and ears, and it was easy to access the neck or brain from there. He dodged, one arm jerking up to deflect the blow. With an unpleasant _snick_-ing sound, the dragon-hilted dagger tore through Danny's shirt, skin, and muscle.

Dash breathed a horrified curse. Star and Paullina were silent, their mouths opening and closing like fish.

"What was that for?" the hybrid yowled, clutching his wounded limb.

The knife fell from Valerie's lifeless fingers. "Danny… what happened to your arm?"

One look revealed what she was talking about. Danny fought back a curse, schooling his face into an expression of shock. Normal humans didn't have that slight greenish tint in their blood or pulsing turquoise-yes, turquoise- muscles.

His brain whirled, cranking and creaking like a gear in Clockwork's Tower. "I… don't know," he mumbled. "I've never seen my, um, bicep or triceps or whatever that is before." Another lie; he'd suffered far worse. "Maybe it's because- no, never mind."

Sam shot him a filthy glare. _You'd better know what you're doing. _

The A-listers' curiosity was piqued. "Why do you think you're like that?" demanded Dash.

Danny hung his head, feigning shame. "When I was little," he mumbled reluctantly, "Mom and Dad used to experiment on me. Nothing bad or anything," he added quickly, staving off their horrified gasps, "just little things like gargling ectoplasm to see if I thought it was alkaline or saline." Technically, this was true. Jack had made him gargle ectoplasm, but that wasn't the reason for his bizarre physiology.

"Nothing bad or anything?" Valerie repeated incredulously. "Danny, that's child abuse! They could be _arrested_ for that!"

"No wonder you're so freaky," Paullina muttered under her breath. Danny pretended not to hear.

Sam nodded slowly, shot him a smile. _Good job. I didn't think you could get out of that. _

"I don't want to talk about it, okay? Let's just get going."

They were silent for a while before Star, in a wildly transparent attempt to ease the tension, began pointing out weird things in the sky. Funnily enough, her exuberance only made the strain more poignant. The other girls occasionally made a grunt of agreement to their classmate's observations. Eventually, Star fell silent.

Dash hadn't spoken a word since Danny's revelation. His own parents were pretty distant and not very nice, but they'd never _experimented _on him. What would it have been like if they had?

Empathy and sympathy were uncommon emotions for the blond jock, and he didn't like them at all. Yet that was exactly what he felt: empathy and sympathy. The quarterback silently vowed never to pick on Fenton again. It was the least he could do, assuming they got out of this alive.

And speaking of picking on Fenton… how was it that the smaller boy could take on six-foot ghost monsters barehanded and win? In school, he was famous for being wimpy. Danny Fenton never fought back, never complained. He was slow and clumsy with no fighting skills to speak of. He'd almost failed gym two years in a row. Yet here in the Ghost Zone, he'd walked for hours on bare feet without complaint, fought two ghosts and won, and then shrugged everything off as though it were no big deal.

Then a horrible thought occurred to him. Since he had handled the robot ghost with such skill, Fenton obviously could have beaten Dash, Kwan, probably half the football team with no effort at all. But he didn't.

Why not?

He was so absorbed that he didn't even notice when they stopped. Danny actually had to chase the jock down and bring him back before announcing that he and Sam were going to look for more banana-pears.

Less than two minutes after their departure, a green swirly thing opened right in front of them. Star, who had been stretching her aching calves, jerked away from it. Unfortunately, her back foot landed on the very edge of the rocky path. Another inch and she would have fallen off entirely. Arms pinwheeling in a futile attempt to regain her balance, her body rocking back and forth, the popular girl leaned forward. With a scream of terror, she fell into the portal.

* * *

><p>Oh no! Star is in a portal. Unless you've read the original by shamrock17, you have no way of knowing what happened to her!<p>

Other news: My next update for Kith and Kin and this fic should be sometime next week. I'm not sure about Alphabet Soup. It's not exactly high priority at the moment. -Corona


	4. Through Space and Time

"What happened?" Danny yelled, sprinting up to Dash. His aching feet spasmed in protest, but the hero ignored them.

"That thing," babbled Valerie, "it just appeared, and then Star fell!"

"It ate my friend!" wailed Paullina.

Their guide groaned. "That's a natural portal," he explained. "Portals between Earth and the Ghost Zone open and close all the time. They're the reason ghost stories got started in the first place. Unfortunately, they're unpredictable. I don't know where this one goes or even _when,_ because a lot of portals will move through time as well as space. It might not even lead to the human world at all, just a different part of the Zone."

"That's nice and all, but what do we _do?_" snapped Valerie. "Star is my friend. If she hasn't come out by now, it's because she can't!"

The lovebirds glanced at each other. "We should all go in," Sam sighed. "It's not smart to get separated in the Ghost Zone. We need to stay together."

Danny nodded. "I'll go first, just in case there's a monster or something waiting for us."

Paullina gulped. "Wait, are you sure we all have to go in? Because I was doing just fine right here."

"Yes," her guide replied shortly. Without further ado, he leapt into the portal.

Sam and Valerie would never be close friends, but they knew how to work together. Acting as one, the two girls shoved Paullina in after Danny before following themselves. Dash brought up the rear, clutching Skulker's arm cannon like a lifeline.

The five schoolmates found themselves in a place that was familiar and strange at the same time: Caspar High. They knew the building like the back of their hands, and this was definitely the main hall, but it couldn't be. Caspar High was a colorful place: blue lockers, tan doors with silver panels. This place was painted in gray and sepia like some old photograph. Even the students were colorless.

Star was fine- paralyzed with terror, but still fine. As Sam tried to calm her down, Danny looked around with a professional eye. "I know this place," he commented. "It's the realm of Sidney Poindexter."

"Y'mean that one geek who haunts a locker back home?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately, it means that we're still in the Ghost Zone, and we should head back through the portal. Poindexter's realm is almost two days further away from our destination."

"That's a great idea," Sam growled. "There's just one problem."

"What?"

"Look behind you. The portal's closed."

Star whimpered as teenage spirits pressed around her. "Calm down," Sam ordered. "They're not real ghosts. These things are called constructs, and they're nothing but an imprint of Poindexter's memories. He's the only 'real' ghost here."

"You bet I am!" said a high-pitched voice. The group turned to see the nerdiest-looking being they'd ever laid eyes on. Poindexter had it all: hall monitor's sash, oversized glasses, even a slide protector. "But what are humans doing here and why do you know so much about me?"

Danny sidled over to Dash, hiding part of his face behind the jock's bulk. The quarterback raised an eyebrow. Danny shook his head, signaling silence. Dash shrugged.

If they were lucky, Poindexter wouldn't recognize him. He'd grown over the years, filled out. His outfit was different, navy jeans and a long-sleeved red shirt to hide his scars. His face had become leaner and his hair had grown out slightly. Even his voice was different, changing from Danny's tenor to Dan's silky baritone. _That _had taken some getting used to- he'd actually taken a vow of silence for over a week before Sam and Tucker convinced him they didn't mind.

"_She_ fell through a portal," Sam explained, jutting her thumb towards Star. "We came to rescue her, but the portal closed behind us. I don't suppose you could get us back to the human realm?"

Poindexter scowled. "Not anymore. Ever since the halfa destroyed my mirror, I've been stuck here." He considered. "I suppose you could stay the night, though. I get lonely."

Valerie gawked. That she was having a civil conversation with a ghost that wasn't trying to kill them all seemed totally impossible. For a moment she wondered if she was dreaming, but a sharp pain from her feet proved that it was real.

"Let's see," the geek muttered, totally unaware that he was rearranging her entire worldview, "there are four girls and two- Hey, I know you!"

Dang. Apparently the changes in his appearance weren't enough. Danny cut him off before he could say anything incriminating. "Yeah, you haunted my locker once. Otherwise, I don't know anything about you."

"But I know all about you," bubbled Poindexter, not taking the hint. His eyes shone with hero worship. "You're the _halfa._"

Valerie blinked. "The what-a?"

Double dang. "I'd just love to stick around and chat, but we kind of need to get going."

Poindexter slumped. "Oh," he said sadly. "Well, I suppose I could try to reactivate my mirror, but you'd probably end up in a dump or something since it's broken."

The humans and halfa didn't hesitate. A dump in their own dimension sounded a lot more appealing than a high school in this one.

"There's food in the cafeteria," the nerd continued. "I don't know if it's edible for humans, though." He paused. "Actually, I don't know if it's edible, period. It is a cafeteria, after all."

Danny glanced at Valerie. If he went to the caf with them, she'd begin the interrogation. He didn't want to be interrogated. "I'll come with you," the hybrid volunteered.

Poindexter perked up. "Golly gee, really? Yay!" Wrapping an arm around Danny's shoulder and completely ignoring his guest's flabbergasted face, the nerd escorted the halfa away from the humans. "I probably don't have enough power to reactivate the portal, but I bet you do!"

Horrified, Danny looked back at his classmates, but they hadn't heard. "Look, I know that you have the best intentions and all, but could you please stop mentioning that I'm half-ghost? Sam knows, but the others are totally clueless and one of them hates my ghost half."

"Okey dokey then."

It was a good thing he'd decided to go with Poindexter, because the contructs recognized him too. Not a minute went by when some sepia jock DIDN'T slap his shoulders and congratulate him on defeating Pariah Dark, or reference his last visit to the colorless school, or ask if he'd really thrown this or that ghost back to the Underworld. Even worse, they called him "Phantom," not "Danny." It was really very distracting when he was trying to reactivate a portal to the human world.

Finally, after half an hour of interrupted work, the one-and-a-half ghosts managed to create a portal roughly the size and shape of a door. Poindexter beamed, puffing out his skinny chest with pride.

Danny grinned back. "Thanks," he said, and was surprised to realize that he actually meant it. "I'll find some way to reward you, maybe some gold or something."

"You have gold?"

The hero grimaced. "Yeah. When I defeated Pariah Dark, I kind of inherited everything he owned."

The nerd's eyes bulged. "Holy guacamole," he breathed. "The rumors are true. You're the k-"

"That's another thing you're not supposed to mention in front of the humans."

"Yes, my liege- I mean, Your Maj-"

"After the favor you just did me, it's Danny," the halfa said quietly.

Poindexter's bulging eyes glazed over.

Three minutes later, all the full-humans were in their own realm. Only Danny and Poindexter remained. The halfa stepped towards the portal, ready to go back. He didn't really want to leave- FentonWorks wasn't his home any more- but he had to.

"Wait!" yelled Poindexter. "Can I have your autograph?"

It was a very bemused Danny who went through the portal. Sam gave him a weird look. "I don't think we're in a dump," she commented dryly.

"That's because we're not," hissed Valerie.

They had ended up in what could only be described as a stereotypical prison cell: dark, dank, slime oozing down the walls, thick iron bars covering the tiny exit. Across the hall, they could see a group of filthy men in jumpsuits wolf whistling at the four females.

Danny jerked around to the portal, but it had closed. "Flames between!" he cursed, forgetting that it was Phantom's most famous oath.

"Someone's coming!" yelled Dash. "Good sir, we're trapped! Could you please let us out?"

Everyone stared. Dash covered his mouth. "Did I really just say that?"

"Indeed," Danny murmured. He and Poindexter had connected with the mirror- he could see it on the walls, the cell's only decoration- but they'd ended up in the wrong time. "I believe that we have been transported to another era, probably around a century or two ago. We are speaking in this manner because of laws laid down by a ghost, the Master of All Time. He created them that temporally displaced persons such as ourselves might fit in with the inhabitants of whenever they found themselves."

The barred door creaked open, revealing a perplexed-seeming man in a prison uniform. His expression became appalled at seeing the girls' clothing. This was an era of floor-length skirts, multiple petticoats, and corsets. Even Sam's modest purple cargo pants and black tank top were nothing short of scandalous.

"How did young'uns like you end up here?" he asked. "And the ladies in nothing but their barest knickers!" That seemed to disturb him far more than their actual presence.

"I'm a distant relative of the warden," Danny improvised. "He wanted more guards, so Dashiel and I came with our fiancées-" he gestured at Sam and Paullina "his sister-" Star "and a serving girl." He felt really bad about making Valerie a servant, but that WAS the primary occupation of black women in the nineteenth century. For all he knew, slavery was still legal! "We decided to explore the premises and seem to have locked ourselves inside." He grinned sheepishly, praying that the guard didn't ask about the girls' clothing.

"Well," guard sniffed, "I don't know how you attire yourselves where you come from, but here, women are expected to dress like proper ladies."

"We're very sorry, sir," mumbled Star. "Do you perhaps know where we could acquire some appropriate clothes?"

"Perhaps the warden's wife will help you," the guard replied.

They really had no choice but to follow him through the maze of cells. As they walked, ill-kept men shouted obscenities at the four girls. Danny nearly got whiplash from turning around and snarling at everyone who insulted Sam.

The ground floor of the prison was much more welcoming, and the little home above the ground level was better still. A middle-aged woman in dark blue sat in a poufy cream chair, working her embroidery hoop with practiced precision. She stared curiously at her new guests.

Danny shot her his most charming smile. As Phantom, that cheeky grin had caused several fangirls to faint. The woman in blue didn't faint, but she did smile widely back at him.

"Ma'am, these are your husband's- er- how are you related again?"

"I'm his third cousin twice removed. We're here because he requested more guards. My name is Daniel, and this is my fiancée Samantha. The other man is Dashiel with his fiancée Paullina, his sister Star, and their servant Valerie. It's truly a pleasure to meet you, madam."

She held out a hand, not blinking twice as Danny bowed over and kissed it instead of shaking it. "Please, Daniel, call me Yvonne. After all, we are cousins, and if you are to join the guards we will get to know each other very well. Heaven knows we certainly need more help, especially since-" She hesitated. "Never you mind. Where are you and your friends from?"

"A farm out west," he replied vaguely, hoping that they weren't on the West Coast. "Unfortunately, our choice of attire is rather different there. Do you perhaps know of a place where we could find our women proper clothing?"

Yvonne's face lit up. "Oh, but of course! I still have all of Melissa's dresses; I haven't been able to let them go. It will be wonderful to see them worn again. Come along, girls. Perhaps when Jedidiah gets home he can find Daniel and Dashiel something to wear."

"A good thing you found the missus," commented the helpful guard. "Kin or not, Warden Walker would have thrown you back in the cell."

Danny's heart skipped a beat. A warden named Jedidiah Walker? He could just imagine the future ghost's reaction to seeing him in this time. He'd probably get another five thousand years in prison. "Thank you for the warning," he said politely. "Who, though, is Melissa? My cousin did not mention her."

The guard flinched. "I am not surprised," he admitted. "Miss Melissa was his daughter, and you could never imagine a livelier or sweeter girl. One day, almost five years ago now, she was sitting in the garden when one of the ruffians we keep below came up and- well, you heard what they said to your lovely fiancées. Lechers, every one of them. Miss Melissa was a pretty girl, and the man who found her hadn't… ah… encountered a woman for years. He fell upon her like a starving wolf. Two days later, the poor girl died of heartbreak. Neither Walker likes to talk about it."

"And no wonder," murmured the halfa. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the skull-faced warden, even though they weren't on the best of terms. It was easy to see how losing a beloved child to criminals had caused him to obsess over rules. "That is truly an awful tale."

The other man nodded sadly. "Yes, so please don't ask the missus about it. She still tears up whenever Miss Melissa is mentioned. I... need to go back on my rounds now." Sniffling, the guard walked away, leaving Danny to wonder just how much he'd cared about Miss Melissa. He was young enough, and his eyes had been suspiciously moist as he told the tale….

Dash interrupted the hero's musings. "So how do we get home from here, Fenton? I have no desire to remain in this time!"

"Once the ladies return, we must return to the cell. Every portal has an anchor, and I believe that if we return to Poindexter's mirror, we can use it to return to our own era. Alas, we would still be in the Ghost Zone, but even that is better than remaining here."

The jock began to pace.

When Yvonne finally returned with their classmates, Danny sent a silent message to Sam. The Goth girl, stunning in black velvet, nodded. "Madam Yvonne, is there any place in this city where we could retire for the night? None of us wish to impose on your hospitality any longer, especially after receiving these lovely dresses."

Yvonne's face fell. "You would never be a burden, dear cousin-to-be. However, since I was not expecting your visit and have had no time to prepare, I understand." She gave them directions to the nearest hotel.

Unfortunately, getting to the portal site required going through the prison proper. The men were even worse this time, actually reaching out to grope at the females until Danny, in an uncharacteristic fit of pique, broke one pervert's arm. His agonized shriek was very discouraging.

"All right," Danny muttered, grabbing Skulker's arm-cannon from where they had left it. "I shall attempt to reactivate the portal with this knave's weapons. Please close your eyes; I do not know how bright this will be and have no wish to see you blinded." He paused. "See you blinded. Ha."

Sam stepped on his foot. "Ow!"

"Now that we have heard my boyfriend's wise but badly worded advice, let us heed it." She shut her eyes. The others followed suit.

Ignoring Skulker's cannon, Danny aimed an ecto-blast at where the portal had been. It sparked to life immediately, and the six schoolmates resumed their long journey home.

* * *

><p>Next update will be soon. Hopefully it will be paired with an update of Kith and Kin or Alphabet Soup. Yeah. Nothing else to say...- Corona<p> 


	5. Home away from Home

Danny took one look at their location and nearly jumped for joy. Valerie saw the look on his face. "Does this mean we're almost there?"

"Not exactly. We still have another day and a half of walking, but we're still more than a day ahead of schedule."

"You can tell all that just by looking at that mountain over there?"

"Yeah, but it's not just a mountain. You see those white lumps all over it? Those are buildings. They're modeled after Greek temples like the Parthenon. You've all seen pictures of it, right? Well, imagine what it was like in the glory days of Athens and you'll see what those buildings are like.

"Basically, the entire city is modeled after a Grecian city-state. Most of the buildings are _stoas_, but there are also a few _stadioni_ and a _bouleterion_ near the palace. There's even a labyrinth with a real minotaur, though I wouldn't recommend going there. It's mostly ruled by Pandora, but her husband Epimetheus and his brother Prometheus are pretty important too."

"You know a lot about this place," Valerie commented darkly. "Almost _too_ much. Somehow I doubt that your parents would bother learning everything you know before they blew this place up. Not to mention that Poindexter and Skulker knew you." She stalked right up to him, noses touching, her brown eyes boring into his blue. "Your parents don't know any of this, do they?"

His silence was answer enough. Lying would be pointless; Valerie was too smart to believe him.

The huntress raised an eyebrow. "So why do _you_?"

Over the years, Danny Fenton-Phantom had become very good at improvising plausible lies that were _just_ close enough to the truth that no one questioned him. It was one of the many reasons that no one (except Jazz, but that had nothing to do with lies and everything to do with carelessness) had ever discovered his secret identity. "I know about the Ghost Zone because I've been here before."

Deafening silence. Oddly, no one seemed surprised by what he'd said, just that he'd said it. "Explain."

"It all started on my eighth birthday," he murmured. That had been a horrible day- his parents had completely forgotten why March 21 was special. Jazz had remembered, and she'd tried to cheer him up by holding a surprise party, but her clumsy brother had tripped over an ecto-gun and completely destroyed his new telescope. "My parents- and I use that term loosely- had totally forgotten about it, so I went down to the lab to sulk. My sister was just as mad as I was, so she came down with me." That was the truth. Now the lies began.

"I don't remember exactly how, but we somehow ended up in the Ghost Zone, kind of like what's happening now. Fortunately, there was a friendly ghost nearby who took us to Achaea- that's the city's name- and handed us over to Pandora. She took care of use for about two weeks before we found a way back to FentonWorks, so every once in a while I steal the Specter Speeder and come to visit. Pandora's like a second mother to me, and she might know if there are any other natural portals that open into Amity Park. Besides," he cracked a grin, "it will be nice to sleep in a bed again."

"So this… Pandora ghost… you're _sure _she won't kill us?" squeaked Star.

"I'm sure. She took in two terrified human kids and sent them back home; she'll do the same for six terrified human teenagers." He shifted his posture into Phantom's confident pose. It felt good to stand that way again. He'd been Fenton far too long. "I promise."

That was good enough for Star. "So how do we get there?" she wondered.

Danny flinched. "That's the bad part. We have to walk."

* * *

><p>Step by painful step, Star approached the palace. Fenton- Danny, after going through this they were probably all on first-name terms- had done a great job of bandaging them and shrinking her blisters, but her feet had never hurt so much. Her entire body was in pain: lips chapped, hands cracked, diaphragm overworked, leg muscles exhausted. The dress she was wearing didn't help. Purple saffron was very pretty, but it wasn't something you wanted to trek in.<p>

To distract herself, Star thought about everything she had learned- and, more importantly, everything she had yet to learn- about Danny Fenton.

Fact one: He'd had a lousy childhood. Between the experiments, forgotten birthdays, and the shame of having crazy parents, it was no wonder he always seemed so stressed.

Fact two: He was some kind of celebrity in the Ghost Zone. She didn't know why, but Skulker and Poindexter had recognized him. Heck, Poindexter had _worshipped _him! It couldn't just be because of his parents' profession. Despite Jack's claims, he wasn't a very good ghost hunter. Maddie might be if she set out on her own, but the teal-clad woman would never abandon her husband. Maybe, Star mused, it was because of this Pandora person. If she was some kind of queen, her human foster-son would be famous. But something about that didn't fit. Pandora didn't explain the look on Poindexter's face when he recognized Danny.

Fact three: He was a natural leader. When Skulker and the Box Ghost attacked, Danny beat them off. When they were stranded in Yvonne's timeline, Danny had answered her questions and returned them to the present era. There were little things, too: how he would walk on bare feet without complaining; how he was standing right now, confident as a king; how something in his voice and eyes made impossible to disobey.

This Danny Fenton was very different from the happy-go-lucky nerd at school.

Paullina screamed. Star jumped.

A blue-skinned ghost appeared before them, clad in shining armor and carrying a wickedly sharp spear. His bloody eyes focused on the helpless humans.

Then Danny was there, speaking rapidly in a language that Star had never heard before. An amazing change came over the soldier. His mouth opened wide; his crimson eyes went wider. The fearsome spear fell from his limp fingers. Then, most impossible of all, he _knelt-_ really knelt, like a knight in the fantasy books she pretended not to like- and whispered two reverent words.

"_Basilias Daniel."_

The subject of his adoration resumed his speech. Star caught the word "Pandora" several times. The soldier nodded fervently. When Danny fell silent, the soldier flew away.

"What. Was. _That?_"

"Pandora is this guy's queen. I'm her foster-son. Nieander is going to get the barge to carry us up, so we can just hang out for a few minutes."

Only one fact penetrated Star's malfunctioning brain. "You're a _prince!"_

* * *

><p>It was good to be home.<p>

Danny eased into the bathtub with a moan of pleasure. The water just felt _so nice _after his trek. Grinning, he grabbed the sweet-scented soap and went to work.

An hour later, the wrinkly but content half-ghost dragged himself out of the tepid waters. Smiling, he looked around his room. It was a huge chamber decorated in in the royal black and white, colors that represented different hues united into one. A servant had laid out clothes for him, several different outfits in fact. Danny suspected that his human clothes had been stolen and burned. Pandora was a bit of a neat freak, and she'd destroyed his dirty outfits before.

Since there was a tournament that night, Danny selected practical attire: a dark gray tunic with forest green pants. Then he remembered that the Caspar High humans would also be at the tourney. Grimacing, he removed the short-sleeved tunic. His arms were covered with scars from all his ghost fights, and he really didn't want anyone to comment. They were suspicious enough as it was. He went with the layered look: a white shirt beneath the darker tunic all covered by a knee-length _chlamys_. Softly humming an old Greek lullaby, the hero wandered off to find Pandora.

His foster-mother was standing in the nearest _stadion_ trying to organize the last minute tournament. At her side stood a stunning young woman in silk.

"Mother! Danni!"

The two females turned, identical smiles lighting up their faces. "Danny!" they cried. He charged towards them, and soon they were tangled together in an eight-armed hug.

Quite a few of Pandora's subjects found their eyes going moist.

The next few seconds passed in a babble of questions. How was he? Just fine, what about you two? How long had Danni been in Achaea? About a week.

Then came the best (or, to Danny, worst) news of all. Danni looked at him with those great green eyes and exclaimed, "I'm getting married!"

"_WHAT!"_

The subjects who had been tearing up a moment ago suddenly realized that they had pressing business elsewhere. No one wanted to face the Darksbane when he was angry.

Danni slapped a hand over her twin's mouth. "Before you start rampaging, I'll tell you that it's Achilles. You _like_ Achilles, remember? And he just asked a couple days ago, and the first thing I wanted to do was tell you, but no one could find you, so don't start ranting about keeping secrets and betraying your trust."

"Fine," her sibling grudgingly acquiesced. "But I _will_ fight him in the ring tonight."

Danni rolled her eyes. Pandora decided to intervene. "Perhaps Daniel could explain why his chosen and four unfamiliar humans have come to my realm?"

It was the perfect distraction. Danny shut his eyes with a groan. "Ugh, is _that _a story…." He told them of Dash finding his map, of being attacked twice, of their adventures with Poindexter and Yvonne Walker. Throughout the tale, he repeatedly stressed that most of the humans still had no idea he was Phantom.

"I do not understand your obsession with secrecy," Pandora confessed. "You are the High King of All Ghosts, mightiest of us all, as befits he who vanquished Pariah. Surely you have nothing to fear from these humans."

"It's not that I'm scared," the halfa elucidated. "It's just that I don't think I'm ready to ascend the throne yet. That's why so many ghosts still think I'm just another commoner. I want to go to college first, marry Sam without the chaos of a royal wedding, get more experience so I know how to rule instead of just reign. That'll be a lot easier without hunters following me in my human form. Does that make sense?"

"For anyone else, yes," the full-ghost replied. "You, though, are underestimating yourself. Both my Phantoms are just and wise beyond their years. You could have been crowned years ago."

"So you say." But Danny's voice was doubtful.

"She's right, you know," scolded Danni. "All you're doing is making yourself miserable. I've seen you in the human world; unless Sam and Tucker and Jazz are with you, you're miserable. Here, though, you're so much happier."

It was an old conversation. Normally Danny would just shrug off his family's arguments, but today he remained silent. He couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, they were right.

* * *

><p>Ever since Phantom had destroyed Axion Labs, Valerie Gray had been driven by a burning hatred of ghosts. The belief in their innate evil, the quest to stop them, had become essential parts of her identity. Now, though, circumstances were forcing her to revise those opinions.<p>

"Will that be all, Miss Gray?" asked Juniper. The green-skinned ghost girl had a heavy Greek accent, but Pandora had insisted that the humans' servants would be proficient in English.

"I'm fine, thanks," she mumbled. It was beyond awkward to be so polite to her sworn enemy.

Juniper beamed. "Wonderful!" she squealed. A burst of girlish giggling escaped the ghost's lips. "Will you tell the prince that the entire kingdom is thrilled by his safe return? I mean," her professional demeanor returned with the speed of lightning, "his presence and the presence of his guests brings great joy to us all."

"Uh… sure."

The ghost girl bowed, a light blush staining her cheeks. "Thank you, Miss Gray. The banquet should be ready now. Please follow me- you have a seat of honor at the high table."

Like an enormous hive of bees, the castle buzzed with activity. Servant girls darted back and forth, hurriedly removing imaginary flecks of dust from the statuary. Pages followed, shouting loudly in Greek or Latin or Coptic. Valerie didn't understand the words, but she recognized the tone: pure, unadulterated joy. Many of the ghosts, assuming correctly that any human girl was a guest of their queen's foster-son, waved at her, called out greetings (Juniper translated), even bowed or curtsied.

Dash was already in the immense feasting hall, looking uncomfortable in his crimson _chiton_. Relief broke across his face. "Hey, Val. Pretty surreal, isn't it?"

"I'll say," she agreed, plopping down beside him. "Who would have thought that Danny is royalty?"

They conversed for a few more minutes as the hall filled up with festively garbed ghosts. Sam, Paullina, and Star arrived, resplendent in their _peploi_ and gossamer shawls. Sam wore a ruby-studded circlet in her hair; Paullina kept shooting it jealous looks.

"I just want to pinch myself," Star gushed. "Valerie, look at what they gave me! I said it was too much, but they said that I could keep it forever!" She thrust out her arm, showing the twisting golden bracelet around her wrist. "I think this is real gold, and look! It's got a sapphire too!"

"It's gorgeous," Valerie assured her. "Isn't it weird how everyone's being so nice to us?"

"The Greeks were really into hospitality," Sam explained. "Besides, we're Danny's guests. They'd never turn us away. Now pay attention, I think they're coming."

"How do you kn-" Valerie was cut off by an ecstatic burst of trumpet music. The ghosts stood. Sam and Valerie followed their lead, glaring at the other humans to do likewise.

The royals had arrived.

* * *

><p>Oh boy. Lots of Greek words that I found by Googling "ancient Greek clothing" and "ancient Greek architecture." There are also quite a few mythology references. If you care what these things are, please read this little glossary thing that hopefully isn't too inaccurate.<p>

Pandora, Epimetheus, and Prometheus: In mythology, Epi and Prome were brothers. Prome brought fire to mankind and was tied to a mountain for centuries, where an eagle tore out his liver every day until Heracles had mercy on him and killed him. Before the fire incident, he warned Epi against marrying Pandora, the first woman, whose box unleashed all evil upon mankind. In DP 'reality,' Pandora is a queen, Epi is her consort, and Prome is her advisor. Her box is also very different, as anyone who's watched "Boxed-up Fury" can agree.

Parthenon: a temple to Athena in Athens. Currently a major tourist trap

_Stoas/stoae:_ covered walkways. Not exactly buildings, but probably in important feature of Greek city-states

_Stadioni:_ stadiums

_Bouleterion: _a government building where the civilian council meets

_Basilias:_ Greek word for 'king.' I'm not sure if it belongs before or after the name Daniel, so I just put it before, like in English.

_Chlamys:_ short cloak

_Chiton: _that one-armed tunic thing you see on old Greek statues. Also a type of mollusc

_Peploi:_ the dress thing you see on old Greek statues of women. Singular _peplos_

I think that's it. If I've left anything out, tell me in a review and I'll fix it.

-Corona


	6. Hospitality

Years later, one of Dash's children would ask him to describe the most magnificent thing he had ever seen. The jock would think of two incidents, one that had not yet occurred, and one that was occurring. As he explained the events to his young son, Dash would reflect on how ironic it was that both involved Danny, the boy he'd always thought was nothing but a wimpy nothing.

Pandora strode into the hall, fierce and beautiful in her golden armor, flanked on either side by two ghost men who could only be brothers. Prometheus the Fire-Bringer and Epimetheus, no doubt. Dash scarcely noticed them; he was far more intent on the youth at their hostess's right side.

Danny Fenton, archetypal nerd of Caspar High, glided into the hall with a warrior's deadly grace, a king's majestic poise. His head was held high, and those blue eyes were brighter than Dash had ever seen. His garments were simple, a short cloak over gray and green, but their understated elegance only added to the youth's presence. It was easy to believe, looking at the proud young man, that Daniel James Fenton was a prince. It was far, far harder to believe that this was the same person whom Dash had frequently shoved into lockers back home.

Dash realized he was staring and looked away, blushing. Then he inhaled sharply, nearly choking on his own breath.

There was a second human on Pandora's left side, but this one was decidedly female. Other than that, she was the spitting image of Danny: expressive eyes, stubborn chin, glossy black hair, lean warrior's physique. Not only that, she was beauty personified, more gorgeous than the photo he'd glimpsed just days ago had led him to believe. Dash's mind filled with tired old clichés he'd laughed at in Lancer's English class: raven hair, alabaster skin, a rose or lily or some other gorgeous flower.

The young woman noticed his stare. Blue eyes met blue-purple, and the jock's heart froze in terror. She'd seen him staring; such a radiant creature would surely laugh at his temerity. But instead that beautiful face smiled sweetly, full lips parting slightly to reveal perfect white teeth. Dash felt his heart melt.

Then Paullina kicked him. Red in horrified mortification, he stared fixedly at the empty golden plates.

Four of the royals seated themselves. Pandora alone remained standing to address her people. It was in Greek, naturally, but Danny whispered a translation to his classmates.

"These past days we have known great joy, and tonight our joy shall only increase. The son of my heart, Prince Daniel, has returned to his people. He brings with him five noble guests: Lady Samantha, his chosen, with whom we are already familiar, and Lord Dash and Ladies Paullina, Valerie, and Star. Let us celebrate, for-" Here Danny broke off, hesitated. "-for my son has come home."

The ghosts erupted into cheers, banging their goblets against the table in a deafening din. Then servants came in with food: roast pigs stuffed with apples, honeyed pears, bulging dolmades with _avgolemono_ on top, sugar-frosted _kourabiedes_ stacked in a pyramid, colorful _moussaka_. It was a Grecian feast, the kind reserved for visiting royalty.

Danny smiled at his fellow humans as they dug into their meals. He gestured at the woman who looked so much like him. "Everyone, this is my sister Danni. We're twins. When we fell into the ghost portal on our eighth birthday, she decided to stay. Please don't mention her to Jack and Maddie; they like to pretend that their _treacherous _ghost-loving daughter doesn't exist. Danni, these are Dash, Paullina, Star, and Valerie. You already know Sam."

The humans made noises of greeting.

With that bit of business settled, Danny turned to his girlfriend. "She's getting _married,"_ he announced peevishly.

Dash's liquid heart froze, then shattered. The paragon of feminine beauty, the nymph in her green pleated skirt and dangling earrings was already taken?

Sam did not share the jock's (or Danny's) distress. "Good for you! It's Achilles, isn't it?"

"Sa-am! You're supposed to be mad at her for getting engaged without telling us!"

"Ignore him. He's just sulking," Danni advised. "You and Jazz will be bridesmaids, right?" She smiled conspiratorially. "I've got the dresses all picked out. They're pink and poufy with all kinds of frills and lace. You'll love them!"

"My… eyes… my burning mental _eyes_…!"

Danni laughed, a crystal sound. "Actually, they'll probably be black or white because of the-" She suddenly realized that the other humans were watching intently and became silent.

"So, why don't you tell everyone else about your fiancée?" suggested Sam quickly.

"He's great. He's really strong, but he respects my individuality. Great sense of humor, too. Besides," she smirked in her brother's direction, "have you _seen _how hot he is?"

Danny stabbed at his dolmades with such force that his plate shattered. The entire table roared with laughter, which only increased when the indignant prince turned to his foster-mother and whined, "_Mo-om, _Danni's tormenting me!"

"So she is," Pandora observed.

After that, the tension evaporated. Human and ghost talked together, shared stories, laughed together. No one back home would have believed it.

Somehow, that made the experience all the more precious.

* * *

><p>"Achilles vs. Agravine, third blood wins!"<p>

Valerie leaned forward from her place in the royal box, wondering which warrior was which. Danni answered her unasked question by gesturing at the slightly bulkier man, laughing. "That's my fiancée."

Her brother scowled.

The fight was brief. Achilles dropped to one knee, sword thrusting up. Agravine parried, but the first man's attack had been a feint. Faster than lightning, he reversed the sword's momentum. Green ichor sprayed from Agravine's leg. Danni cheered.

"First blood to Achilles!"

The knight, though, had tricks of his own. Ignoring his bleeding calf, he smashed his blade onto Achilles's back. The Greek, still low from his offense, tried to dodge, but Agravine clipped his side, drawing blood.

"First blood to Agravine!"

Now the bleeding men circled. Agravine tried to charge, but Achilles nimbly sidestepped him, reaching out almost delicately to slice into his shoulder.

"Second blood to Achilles!"

The knight spun around just in time to keep his enemy from landing the third blow. Their swords flashed almost too quickly to follow, and a green line split Agravine's face.

"Third blood to Achilles! Achilles wins!" Smiling, Pandora turned to her human guests. "You four will be competing shortly," she informed them quietly. "Daniel, Danielle, could you lead our guests to the field?"

"You do it, Danny," Danni instructed. "I have to change first. Valerie, did you want to put on something more practical?"

"Sure."

They walked off to the locker rooms (at least, that's what Valerie thought they were. Since they were in an ancient Greek _stadion_, she wasn't entirely sure). Danni led her guest to a small closet. "I'm a bit taller than you, but if we roll up one of my pants we'll be fine. Here you go." She handed the other girl a pair of burgundy slacks.

Valerie hesitated, bit her lip, took the plunge. "Why do-" She didn't know how to continue.

Blue eyes met brown, and Danni smiled sympathetically. "Why does a human willingly stay in the Ghost Zone, call an ancient ghost 'Mother,' and love every minute of it? A good question for the Red Huntress to ask."

Her jaw sagged. "How did you know?"

"Your identity's not exactly a secret among ghosts. The dead are horrible gossips." The young woman shrugged dismissively. "But back to your first question. I'm happy here. Pandora and her people accept me for who I am, not who they hope I'll one day be. _They love_ _me_, Valerie. How could I not repay love for love?"

"I'm sorry." She hadn't known it was true until the words escaped her lips. "It's just-"

Once again Danni understood. "It's just that you've spent four years believing that ghosts are evil, subhuman scum who need to be eliminated. I can't say I blame you. When the Fenton Portal opened, it connected Amity Park with a place called the Barrens. Some call it the Lawless Lands. Anarchy reigns there. Its inhabitants refuse to acknowledge the ruling council, choosing instead to follow their own chaotic laws. More than a few are criminals from other countries or escapees from insane asylums. Short of an _exceedingly _nasty city called J'Waar, they couldn't possibly have picked a worse place to contact."

"Oh." Valerie's voice was tiny, ashamed.

"I'll lend you some books on our geography," the other female promised. "For now, though, we've got a tournament to win."

Valerie's first opponent was an insignificant little ghost whom she defeated quite easily. Danni had a more skilled foe, but she won in less than five minutes.

Danny's first enemy was Dash. Valerie watched in fascination as her ex-crush disarmed, forced back, and sliced open Dash- in under two seconds. The jock felt at his three parallel cuts with a stunned expression. The referee nearly had to carry him off the field.

After five more ghost fights (both Danni and her betrothed advanced), Valerie found herself face to face with Danny. He was grinning at her in the same way Phantom sometimes did. "Ready to eat the dust?"

"You're _on."_

They circled for a moment, feeling for weaknesses. Valerie knew she'd have to strike fast to win- look at what Danny had done to Dash! She pretended to stumble on a slight dip before charging forward, sword slashing.

Her opponent dodged, rolled, slicing out with his own weapon. Pain washed across Valerie's leg; she knew he'd hit her.

"First blood to Daniel!"

Valerie pretended to gawk at her leg. Danny fell for it, darted forward. This time his sword met the other fighter's. She dropped to one knee, angling her sword so it would deflect Danny's. She sliced, but somehow, impossibly, the young prince's blade was there, blocking her thrust. Almost effortlessly, her classmate forced her blade up before nicking her chin. He reversed momentum. Valerie tried to parry, but Danny easily dodged her clumsy block. His sword glided across her cheek.

"Second and third blood to Daniel! Prince Daniel wins!"

"Don't sweat it," Danni instructed. "My brother's probably going to win this entire tournament. Mother trained him personally."

"Why won't you win?"

She smiled mysteriously. "Danny gets more practice."

Fourth round was the semifinals: Danny vs. Achilles, Danni vs. a middle-aged female in chain mail. These battles lasted longer than the others, though in the case of the males, it was because Danny enjoyed drawing out Achilles's "lesson." He wanted the warrior to know exactly what would happen if he hurt his sister.

Needless to say, Achilles got the message.

The twins were both bleeding now, but neither seemed weary. Like two great rival cats, they circled. Then Danny charged. It was the first time he'd taken the initiative; normally, he let the other attack first. Due to her position and the sheer speed of the combatants' movements, Valerie didn't see what happened. Pandora did, though.

"First blood to Danielle!"

Valerie's eyes were starting to blur, and she felt a headache coming. How was it possible for two people to be so fast, so fluid, so gorgeously deadly in their movements? It was like watching two hawks in flight.

"First blood to Daniel!"

But Danni wasn't to be dissuaded. Her sword danced; Danny's rose to answer it. They met with a brief bell-like clang before bouncing back, striking again. This time, though, both parties were attacking. Neither slowed to defend.

"Second blood to both Daniel and Danielle!"

Now the dance began in earnest. Their limbs blurred gray and green and silver. The clash of swords rang out through the otherwise silent _stadion_. Pirouettes, somersaults, inhuman flexibility, split-second reversals of momentum- the Fenton twins were breathtakingly deadly.

Valerie didn't know how long the siblings engaged in their dance of death, a dance that could devastate entire armies. Stupefied, she thought of how the football team went after Danny, how the shy and clumsy nerd who was frequently shoved into lockers was also this dangerous young prince who could have killed them all.

Then it stopped. Both Fentons sported a new wound.

Danni held out her hand. "Good game, brother. Congratulations." She turned to the audience. "Danny hit me about half a second before I got him. It was close."

"I'll say!" her brother laughed. "You've been practicing. Where did you learn that uppercut?"

"Achilles taught me."

His face twitched. Danni laughed.

Pandora shook herself. "Third blood to Daniel and Danielle, Prince Daniel wins!"

The watching ghosts (and humans), still not recovered from their stupor, took a while to start cheering. When they did, though, the cacophony was enough to temporarily deafen Valerie. But she didn't regret the deafness, running out to help carry Danny back to the castle.

She barely noticed that, save for Danny, she was the only human in that part of the parade.

Danni did, though. She, too, was being carried home in triumph, though several feet behind her brother. The halfa girl looked at the huntress and smiled. "Mission accomplished."

* * *

><p>Agravine: a knight of Arthurian legend<p>

The Barrens: in my head-canon, the roughly spherical region centered around Pariah's Keep that is famous for its crazy and dangerous inhabitants. Most of the ghosts in the show come from there- Dora, Pandora, Frostbite, and their three peoples are exceptions. They are from the Borderlands that surround the Barrens.

J'Waar: in my head-canon, a foul place filled with the worst criminals in the Ghost Zone. They are one of the Borderlands but loathe everyone in the Barrens (actually, they loathe pretty much everyone). They will gladly torture you to death and rape your corpse. It is a very good thing that the Fenton Portal did not open there.

I'm not even going to bother describing all the Greek food. There's just too much described here. If you're really that curious, Google it.

-Corona


	7. To be a Halfa

"I should _not _be this hungry." Danny's voice echoed down the castle's empty halls. It was nighttime, somewhere around one thirty, and he was _starving._ That didn't make any sense. He'd just eaten a huge feast, after all. Maybe the tournament had used up more energy than he'd originally thought, or maybe it was just because he'd gone without human food for over a day. The point was, he was absolutely famished.

The halfa was almost to the kitchens when a sob reached his ears. He froze, cocked his head. It probably wasn't any of his business, but he couldn't just stand around and when someone was crying. Besides, he was the King of All Ghosts. Egotistic as it sounded, a visit from the Lord of the Underworld would probably cheer this poor person right up.

He followed his ears into a small broom cupboard. There, huddled amongst the mops and dustbins, sat none other than Dash Baxter.

The quarterback was a mess. He rocked back and forth, curled up in a fetal position. Tears leaked from his eyes. His blond hair was slick with sweat, his cheeks red and tear-stained. One eye peeked open, and he let out another, louder wail.

_This is awkward,_ the other boy decided. "Uh… are you okay?" Dash shook his head. Not knowing what else to do, Danny leaned over and started patting him on the back.

"Thanks," the jock mumbled when his sobs subsided.

"So, uh…." What would Jazz do? Emotions and psycho-stuff were her forte, not his. "Do you… uh… want to talk about it?"

Dash smiled bitterly. "Y'know why I wanted to come here in the first place?"

"To find treasure and meet Phantom?"

"Mostly to meet Phantom," he confessed. "But not just for hero-worshippy stuff. I wanted to talk with him about…" He flinched. "…my problems. I just never imagined that it'd be in a broom closet."

Danny's blood went cold. "What are you talking about?"

"I asked a maid. I feel stupid now. C'mon, Danny _Fenton,_ Danny _Phantom?_ And it explains everything else, like how the ghosts worship you."

It was actually happening. His worst nightmare (besides Dan) was actually happening. "Who else knows?"

"I didn't tell anyone. Unless they asked themselves, they don't know." The jock wore a peculiar expression- part shy, part hopeful. "So would you?"

"Would I what?" Danny was still trying to comprehend that his secret was out.

"Listen to me."

The halfa nodded slowly. "Jazz is the psychologist, but sure."

Dash was silent, pensive, staring at his feet. The seconds ticked by, endless. Danny waited. Finally his companion confessed, "I've been feeling depressed for a while now. I dunno why. I mean, I had it all." He sighed. "Then, earlier today, I realized what's wrong. I _don't_ have it all. I don't have anything. I thought I did, but it was just an illusion. A girlfriend? Ha. Paullina doesn't care about anyone but herself. And you, I guess- ghost you, at least, but even that's more about the prestige of dating Danny Phantom and maybe lust than any real attachment. Parents? They're never around. Dad's always on business trips, and Mom's always out shopping. They never experimented on me like yours did, but that's because they just don't care enough about anything. My friends? They don't care either. They just like me because I can throw a pigskin and look good doing it.

"And then I came here, and I saw how much you have: a loving girlfriend, your techno friend, two gorgeous sisters, a scary but loving ghost mom, and an entire freaking _kingdom_ that adores you. Not to mention that Amity Park worships ghost you- well, except a few crazies like your parents and the Red Huntress." He frowned. "Huh. Maybe you don't have everything, with them after you."

"Maybe not," the hero agreed dryly. "So you're saying that your life lacks purpose and fulfillment?"

"I guess," the jock mumbled. "I don't know what I'm saying. I just…." He hugged himself, knees to chest, as vulnerable as a newborn child. "I just want to really be me."

_I just want to really be me._ The words echoed through Danny's skull, loosening questions that he'd previously refused to acknowledge. He knew _exactly_ how Dash felt, what it was like to lead two lives: clumsy Fenton, so meek and inoffensive even when he was screaming inside; cocky Phantom who ran away from who he was….

At that moment, Danny Fenton-Phantom of Amity Park and the Barrens, Darksbane, Kingsmiter, Master of the Army of Thralls, Prince of Achaea, Lord of the Five Rivers, Tempus Ward, High King of All Ghosts, came to an epiphany. He'd made his choice.

And he was no longer afraid.

"Tell me about it."

He was being sarcastic, but Dash took him literally. Words gushed from his mouth, not entirely coherent, but filled with emotion. At some point he started crying again. Danny sat there, awkward but at peace, listening to the jock's pain. Jazz always said that talking was the first step on the road to healing- usually before dragging him into another long and emotional therapy session.

It was hard to focus on the quarterback's words. His thoughts kept drifting to his realization, to its implications, to what he would have to do. There was so much to plan!

He shoved those thoughts away. Right now, someone needed him. First and foremost, even before he was a king, he was a hero. Helping people was his job.

"So, what're you going to do about it?" the halfa questioned.

Dash froze. "Uh…."

"Don't worry, you've still got a while to think about it. Once we're in the human world, you've got two or three options. You could go back to how things were before."

The quarterback snorted. "Not likely. I was miserable. In fact, I'm gonna break up with Paullina right now." He got up, then blushed. "Where is she?"

"It's two in the morning," Danny reminded him. "She's sleeping. You can dump her at a more reasonable hour. Just wait until after breakfast, okay? Otherwise she'll start throwing stuff at you. I've survived one Achaean food fight and have no desire to repeat the experience."

Dash looked like he wanted to comment, then thought better of it and shut his mouth.

"Option two: you could destroy your old life. No more bullying, no more homework theft, maybe even convince the other guys not to shove poor nerds into lockers. I wouldn't give up football, though- I can tell you really like it, and you're actually pretty good."

"But I don't want to go back," the jock quietly confessed.

Danny's eyebrows climbed. He had _not _seen that one coming. "You want to stay in the Ghost Zone?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. I just don't want to go back. I want a fresh start, a new beginning, someplace where they never knew Dash the bully."

Ah, crap. He'd created a runaway. "That's what college is for. We've only got a couple months before graduation, and then you can be off to- where was it again?"

"Pennsylvania State."

"Gotcha. In a few months you can go off to Pennsylvania State, where no one will know you and you won't have any standards to live up to."

Dash jumped to his feet, enraged. "But I will!" he snarled. "Kwan and a couple other guys are going with me; he's going to be my _roommate_!" He lunged, grabbed the other youth, hoisted him, and shoved him against the wall. "You don't get it, do you, Fenton? You have everything you ever wanted and more. Your life is perfect. Well, it's not like that for other people. It's not like that for _me_. _I- have- NOTHING!"_ The last word was a broken howl.

Danny fixed him with a cold, green-eyed glare. Dash flinched involuntarily, suddenly remembering their fight in the tournament. Slowly, he lowered his classmate to the ground.

The halfa did not break his gaze. Instead, he stepped forward. Dash retreated, cowering.

A brilliant blue-white ring materialized around Danny's waist. It split in two, travelled up and down. First came the black tunic with its gray sword-belt and famous DP logo. Then came the black cargo pants with neon green zippers, the skintight white shirt he wore under the tunic, the thick black combat boots. Finally the rings washed over his head. The eyes, already green, remained the same, but the dark hair faded to white. The rings vanished, leaving behind the angry visage of Danny Phantom.

The hybrid spread his arms. "Do you know what this means, full-human?" he asked. Dash, mute, shook his head. "It _means_ that I'm a freak. Not fully human, not fully ghost, not able to fit in with either. _Doomed _to walk between life and death for eternity. Everyone else will die or has died. They had a choice: Heaven for the faithful, Hell for the scoffers, here for everyone else. _I _don't. I'm cursed, Dash, cursed to stand between until the end of time.

"It means that I'm alone. There are two other human-ghost hybrids in the world, our _dear, beloved _mayor and Danni. Two others. Seven billion humans, another seven billion ghosts, and only three halfas. One is evil. Once he wanted to enslave me. Now he just wants to destroy me.

"It means that I am _hated._ There are cults in the Ghost Zone who loathe what I am. 'Abomination,' they call me. They've spent the last four years researching how to destroy me. When they find out what can eliminate me, they're going to do it. They'll go after me, after Danni, and probably after everyone and everything we ever loved.

"It's just as bad in the human world. My parents, the people who are supposed to love and accept me no matter what, _despise _me. They shoot at me every day in ghost form, then go home and tell their bleeding, frightened son what they want to do to him. Dissection's the least of it. They've developed a drug, something called trychinine-five, that increases pain sevenfold. They're going to inject me with that and torture me until my mind is gone. Then, when I've been screaming so long my vocal cords have twisted and shattered, they're going to tear me apart in front of an apathetic town whose opinion changes like a weathervane.

"It means I am a sacrifice. Every day for the past _four years_ I've gone out and fought and bled and risked my _existence _for you people, and for what? So you can blame Phantom for the inevitable property damage- like they could do any better! So bullies who've never done _anything_ can shove Fenton into a locker, steal his homework, and nearly get him expelled. So angry teachers can shake their heads at me and sigh because I'll never do _any_thing worthwhile when I've saved their ungrateful butts more times than I can count."

He bared his teeth, leaned into the stunned jock's face. His eyes narrowed into slits, green daggers that literally glowed with rage. "_That,_ Dash, is what it means to be me. So forgive me if I'm not too impressed by your litany of woe."

Danny spun on his heel, stalked off through the night. The stunned jock gaped at his retreating back, terrified by his idol's venom. He bit his lip, tasted blood. Danny turned the corner.

"Wait!"

Dash bolted forward, ran in front of his hero. Danny raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. Dash's mouth worked soundlessly. He knew he had to say something, something specific, but he didn't know _what._ What could he say to that rage?

"I- I-"

The half-ghost was getting impatient. "You what?"

Then Dash knew. "I'm sorry."

Danny pulled up short. "What?" An apology was the last thing he'd expected.

"I'm sorry," the other whispered. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk. And for beating you up. And for calling you Fentoad and Fen-toenail and stuff. And I'm really, really sorry for stuffing you in your locker and stealing your homework and for making you do our English assignment all by yourself when you had all this going on. And I'm especially sorry for stealing your backpack and getting everyone into this mess." He was crying again, but too drained to care. "I'm just sorry."

Danny stared at him, nonplussed. "Uh… okay. Thanks, I guess." He blushed. "And I guess I'm sorry too, for snapping at you. Maybe we should finish this in the morning when we're rational?"

"Good idea," admitted Dash. He was suddenly exhausted. "G'night, Fenton."

"Good night, Dash." The halfa turned back towards the kitchen. A quick midnight snack would help him sleep. There had been a delicious cake for dessert, and he was fairly certain there were some leftovers….

His hungry fantasies were cut off by a scream. Cursing, the hybrid spun around. What had Dash done now?

He had fallen into a natural portal.

* * *

><p>I'm kind of proud of Danny's speech, even if a lot of it wasn't strictly canon. I can totally see a bunch of ghosts hating him for being a halfa. Can't you?<p>

On a less pleasant note, I won't be able to update any of my stories because I won't have internet access for the next week and a half. I'll update as soon as I get home and promise to work on everything on my vacation. Sorry for the wait, but there's really nothing I can do. In the meantime, read the original of this. It's by shamrock17 and also goes by the name Backpack.

-Corona


	8. Two Screams

Time runs strangely when natural portals are involved. That was why, even though Danny leapt into the portal immediately, Dash was in the other world for hours before the halfa arrived. The intervening hours were… eventful.

By a very bad stroke of luck, the football player materialized right in the midst of a hunting party. They stared in amazement at the young man who had just fallen from the sky. They'd never seen anyone like him: large and muscular where they were small and lithe, pale and yellow-haired where they were dark, dressed in strange clothes as opposed to their comfortable loincloths.

The stranger moaned. The natives lowered their spears.

And so Dash Baxter, star quarterback of Caspar High, was herded away at spear-point by a group of half-naked savages who poked him whenever he tried to speak.

The chief had not expected his hunters to bring back another human being, much less one so strange-looking. He listened to their tale silently, occasionally frowning in Dash's direction. "How did you come here?" he asked.

The quarterback started. These guys spoke English? Then he shook himself, remembering what Danny had said about time travel and language laws. _They _didn't speak his language; _he _understood whatever tongue they were using.

"How did you come here?" the chief repeated. His minions' spears moved closer, almost drawing blood.

"I fell," the jock answered honestly. "I was in this one palace in the Ghost Zone, and I was talking with- someone, and then I fell through this portal. I'll just be going now…." He tried to step away, but the natives did not budge.

"What is this 'Ghost Zone'?"

"Uh…" How to explain something he didn't really understand himself to a bunch of hostile warriors who wanted to impale him? "It's kinda like the Underworld."

Wrong thing to say. Hisses erupted from the warriors as their spears jerked forward, peppering Dash's skin with pinpricks of blood. None of the wounds were serious, but that wasn't much comfort to the terrified athlete. "You are from the Underworld?" snarled the chief.

"No! I mean, yeah, but-"

The chief made a cutting gesture. Something cracked against Dash's head, and the world went dark.

* * *

><p>Danny took one look at his new location and swore. He could sense that this wasn't 2010 anymore- it was probably closer to 2010 B.C. This was even worse than the prison! Seriously, what was up with everybody falling into portals? First Paullina with his ex-mother's portable portal crafter, then Star with Poindexter, then everybody with the prison, and now Dash!<p>

The hero groaned as another thought occurred to him. Clockwork was _not_ going to be happy about all this unlicensed time travel. Danny made a mental note to get him a really nice birthday gift this year, then realized he had no idea what the time ghost wanted. Maybe some clothes that weren't purple?

Back on topic. He had no idea where Dash was, how long he'd been here, or how badly he'd mutilated the vulnerable timestream. Even the littlest changes, like knocking Vlad away from the proto-portal or cheating on a test could cause humungous (and usually BAD) changes to the future. Jack Plasmius would traumatize him for the rest of his half-life, and he didn't even want to _think_ about Dan. It was all-too-likely that, when they finally got back home, they'd discover that squirrels ruled the world or something equally horrible. Assuming there even _was _a world to get back to….

He sighed. The only thing he could do was start looking.

And hope he wasn't too late.

* * *

><p>Dash woke up when three meaty (relatively, at least- these people were all rather small) goons tossed him into a giant cauldron. For a moment he wondered if he was dreaming. Then, deciding that this was entirely real, he wondered how in the world he'd gotten into this mess. His conclusion? It was his own fault for stealing Danny's map.<p>

That did not make him feel any better.

They'd bound and gagged him before tossing him into the cauldron. Dash couldn't get out. He watched in alarm as several women, none of whom were wearing any more than their men, came forward with large clay jugs. One by one, the women dumped water into the oversized cauldron.

Dash glared at them, struggling and splashing, until the pot was about two-thirds full. Then the chief, solemn and calm, bearing a lighted torch, walked over to the unfortunate captive. Their eyes met for a moment, then the chief dropped his torch.

There was wood- _burning wood_- beneath the cauldron. They were going to boil him to death.

Dash screamed. As he was gagged, the cry wasn't very loud. It was muted, pathetic.

Tears blurred the quarterback's vision. Was this the end? He'd always imagined a quiet death at an old age, surrounded by hordes of loving grandchildren. He'd never expected that a group of crazy people from another time would boil him to death, especially not at age eighteen. And why were they boiling him, anyway? Were they going to _eat _him?

He howled. It was a pathetic howl, stifled by the gag. It had no effect on the dispassionate natives.

But it was effective enough.

Half a mile away, a white head twisted as its owner's superhuman hearing detected a very familiar voice. Danny charged.

Dash was sobbing, struggling vainly against the waterlogged bonds. He was going to die, he was going to get eaten, he was doomed, doomed, _doomed- _

"_**Enough." **_

The voice was deep, deadly, filled with a cold and dangerous rage. Dash shuddered, squeezed his eyes shut.

Icy hands grabbed him, hauled him out of the water. Dash peeked.

Danny Phantom seemed taller than usual, poised with a warrior's deadly grace. His expression was terrifying, just like his voice. Green eyes sparked with rage.

At that moment, Dash realized just how lucky he was that this- this- this _being, _as fierce and furious as a rampaging dragon, hadn't killed him.

The natives knelt, trembling. Even the chief was curled up at the half-ghost's feet. Little whimpers came from the citizens' throats, but none of them said anything.

Danny spoke again, Dash was tempted to join the chief on the ground. If that much rage were directed at him, he would have died of terror.

"I am the Lord of the Underworld," the hybrid declared. The natives sobbed. A few turned to run, but flames sparked at their feet. Gasping, they dropped to their knees, begged for mercy. "This is my servant. I had sent him to you for your own benefit." Those green eyes narrowed. "Had you given him hospitality, he would have given you many gifts: dominion over your foes, long life, health, power over nature itself. Yet you rejected my ambassador."

"Forgiveness, Great One!" wailed the chief. "We did not know!"

"Did he not appear from midair? Is he not obviously of a different nation?"

Danny whipped around, away from the cowering chief. Then he _screamed. _

Waves of deadly sound exploded from his mouth. Whatever it touched disintegrated: first the cauldron, twisting into a miserable lump of metal; then the ground itself, clods of earth flying through the air; then the trees, collapsing into piles of sticks.

Dash's heart froze. He had never seen Phantom do _anything _like that, not in any of his ghost fights or even against the ghost hunters. That anyone, even a hero, was capable of so much raw destruction (and he hadn't even broken a sweat!) was terrifying.

"Mercy!" howled the chief, falling down before them. Dash didn't blame him. He felt like cowering himself. That… thing… it could have leveled entire city blocks. It could have… he didn't want to think about it.

And Danny hadn't broken a sweat.

"I will spare you," he said quietly, "but on one condition. This is non-negotiable." Did he seriously think that anyone would _want_ to negotiate with him after that scream? Dash wondered if his rescuer realized how truly terrifying he was. "You will _never_ murder a fellow human being, no matter how strange his looks or circumstances, again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Lord of the Underworld!" "We won't, we won't!" "Never again!" "Spare us!"

The Lord of the Underworld (was he really? At this point, nothing would surprise him) nodded imperiously. He gestured at Dash. The human jumped, heart skipping, then scurried towards his rescuer. Danny touched him, and both time travelers became invisible.

They flew off in silence. One was trying to digest what he'd just seen. The other was miserably formulating excuses for Clockwork. He'd probably just damaged the timeline beyond all recognition, but when he saw those savages trying to cook Dash alive….

"Here's the portal," he stated unnecessarily. Dash blinked at it. He hesitated, reached out, brushed his fingers against it. The portal sparked green.

"What was that?" The jock's voice was a squeak.

"What was what?"

"That- with the trees- you _screamed-" _

So that was it. Danny suddenly wondered what the Ghostly Wail had looked like to his companion. It couldn't have been pretty- it was his most dangerous and destructive power, an inheritance from his murderous alternate self. Dash must think he was a monster.

"My Ghostly Wail," he explained quietly. "I don't use it much- it'd kill everything in its path. Besides, I don't like it. Too many bad memories."

Miraculously, Dash took the hint. "Oh. Okay." But still he hesitated.

Danny was getting impatient. "The portal's right there, y'know, and I don't know how long it will last."

"Remember what we were talking about?"

Danny pulled up short. What they'd been talking about…. First Dash had revealed that he knew Danny was Phantom, then he'd started talking about not fitting in and wanting a fresh start, and then his confidant had treated him to a rant on what it meant to be a halfa. Then the penny dropped. "You want to _stay here?" _

The jock actually blushed. "It's like, a sign, or something," he mumbled. "I say I want out, and then I fall through a portal."

"And then the natives try to _eat_ you. _How_ is that a sign? If you stay, they're just going to put you in the cooking pot again!"

Dash snorted, then glanced at Danny and flinched. "I don't think they're going to hurt someone sent to them by the Lord of the Underworld."

"They tried to EAT you."

Silence.

"You don't know anything about them except that they tried to EAT you. Did you not notice that?"

"Have you ever felt like you needed to do something, and if you didn't you'd never forgive yourself?"

"Yeah. Hello, I'm Danny Phantom. Why did you think I save Amity Park every day?"

"I have to stay."

"Dash, they. Tried. To. Eat. You." But as he spoke, Danny's eyes widened in realization. He knew- or at least, he thought he knew- what was going on.

It was the Wail. Dash had seen his unbridled destructive potential. Of course he was terrified. Of course he didn't want to go back with his monstrous schoolmate.

The hybrid's shoulders slumped. "Fine," he mumbled, "you can stay. But as soon as I get everybody else back to the human realm, I'm coming back here. Just in case you've changed your mind."

Dash smiled. "Thanks, Danny."

The portal closed immediately after he went through. Solemn and afraid, the hybrid stared at where it had been. He didn't know that he'd just left Dash on Thera, where he would single-handedly transform a tribe of primitive savages into the greatest culture in the Mediterranean world. He didn't know that Dash would found a dynasty, a lineage of just kings and wise queens who would uphold his laws. He didn't know that the reforms introduced on Thera would permeate Egypt, Greece, Rome, and through them the entire Western world.

He just knew that he'd left a classmate, a responsibility, in a savage and threatening place.

"Your Majesty?"

Danny jumped, whirled around with an ecto-blast in his hand. He reddened. It was only a guard- a very confused guard who doubtless wanted to know why his liege was wandering around in the middle of the night.

"Sorry," he mumbled, embarrassed. "I was just getting some dessert." His stomach rumbled, and the halfa's face darkened even more. "Good work, friend."

"Thank you, Majesty." The ghost escorted his master to the kitchen, where Danny absently picked at a slice of cake. Hungry or not, he still felt guilty about Dash. Eventually he floated back to his room without finishing.

The guard watched with concern, then shrugged. After all, he was a mere peasant; who was he to question the High King? Still, there was something he had to do before resuming his rounds.

The Captain of the Guard was sitting at his desk, going over their new security system. "Yes, Ganax?"

"His Majesty was where you said he'd be, sir. I led him to the kitchen, then back to his quarters. I know that the castle is safe and His Majesty is more than capable of defending himself, but he was distracted and I didn't want to take any chances."

"Good work," the captain said. "How did he seem emotionally?"

"Distracted, like I said. Sad. Doubtful." The younger ghost shook his head. "Though I probably don't want to know how he got that way."

His boss laughed. "I'll see how he is in the morning. Take the day off, Ganax."

Ganax bowed. "Thank you, Captain Baxter."

* * *

><p>Yes! Dash is back! That little bit wasn't in the original, though most of the other stuff was. Will this affect the plotline? In the words of the late and great Robert Jordan, Read And Find Out! RAFO, baby, RAFO.<p>

For those of you who have read the original- should I follow shamrock17's lead in dealing with Paullina, do some other horrible thing, or let her escape unscathed to cause more trouble in the human world?

-Corona


	9. Hybrid's Eyes

"I cannot _believe_ this."

"It is his handwriting."

"I know that. I still can't believe it. He always seemed so happy, so why did he leave?"

"He was dating _me,_" interjected a third voice. The other two sounded confused; this one was just miffed. "He snubbed me! He _snubbed_ me!" Disbelieving fury filled her tone.

Valerie snorted. "You know, Paullina, the world does not necessarily revolve around you. Dash probably wasn't even thinking about you when he ran off."

"Wait." Sam looked up from her breakfast. "What's this about Dash running off?"

"He ran off," Star repeated uselessly. "That's all anybody knows. His manservant went to wake him up this morning so we could go home and he was gone. His bed hadn't been slept in, and there was a note on his pillow about how he'd found a natural portal and was going through because he wanted a better life."

"But that doesn't make any sense," muttered Danny. Dash had gone through the portal by accident. It wasn't a premeditated action, so there was no way he could have left a note.

The captain of the guard smirked for a moment before returning his face to its professional mask of emotionlessness. It was a good thing his handwriting hadn't changed over the past few millennia, otherwise he'd never have been able to forge the note. But was it really forgery? Everything in it was technically true. He really had found a natural portal and gone through it. The note was just written by a different Dash than the one they were used to.

Pandora raised an eyebrow at him. He blushed cerulean. "Look, I don't know how to tell him, okay?" Long centuries of service meant that he could drop the formalities in private.

"You should," she replied. "He believes that your past self was eaten alive, not that you lived a long and prosperous life before joining my retinue."

"Actually, I'm kind of worried that if I tell him, he won't go back to visit me when I'm twenty and that one guy was trying to start a rebellion. If Danny hadn't scared Apherophos away, he'd have taken over the capitol and who knows what would have happened? But as soon as he visits Lord Clockwork and my past self, I'll tell him."

"He would go anyways," commented Pandora. "My son is a man of his word."

The captain shrugged. "He didn't know when he came to visit, and I really don't want to risk accidently changing anything. Besides, it's only for a week." He thought back to the meeting, all those centuries ago, and frowned. "Actually… we need to be on our guard. He said some things that make me nervous. Apparently we're in for a quote 'long, harrowing, and traumatic week that I don't want to talk about,' end quote."

Now the queen was concerned. "Did he say anything else?"

"No. I asked, but he just scowled and since he had just wrecked a foreign fleet for me, I wasn't going to press him."

Pandora groaned. "Make sure your men are ready for anything and everything. With Daniel involved, there's no telling what will happen."

Dash saluted. "As you command, my queen."

Back at the table, the four-and-one-half humans were debating Dash's disappearance. Danny was mostly silent, only speaking up to assure Paullina it had nothing to do with her. Sam caught his eye. Lovebird-speech flashed between them. _You know what really happened, don't you. _

_It's a long story. I'll tell you later._

The barge was ready immediately after breakfast, and the foreigners wasted no time as they scurried towards it. Danny chuckled, lagged behind with his mother and sister. He knew the human girls didn't understand Greek, but he still didn't want them to hear what he had to say. Now, how could he breach it?

Danni, bless her soul, knew exactly how to help. "Okay, Danny, spill."

His lips quirked. His sister was so perceptive. "Spill what?"

"I don't know what. Just tell us why you're so buoyant today. It's obviously not about your one classmate." Danny had already explained the situation to them, cannibals and all.

He slowed, eyes going distant. The two women matched his pace, silent. Finally their son and brother said, "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately."

"About?"

"Who I am. What my responsibilities are. The right thing to do. And I realized that I've been trying to run away from all those things."

By now all three royals had stopped. The women's eyes brimmed. "You don't mean…?" breathed Pandora.

Her son's smile was brilliant. "I do. Have the castle readied for my return, and," he took a deep breath, "send some servants, people you trust, to Pariah's- to _Phantom's_ Keep. It's time I went home, and I'd like it to be kind of presentable for my coronation."

Danni shrieked with joy, grabbed her twin and squeezed him tight. Pandora, laughing aloud, joined their embrace. The hybrid twins were swung around and around. Only the strength of their mother's four arms kept them from flying off.

Of course, the commotion didn't go unnoticed. Servants peeked out from adjoining rooms. The humans, hearing a scream, charged back, only to stop and stare at the ecstatic scene before them.

Pandora released her dizzy wards, leaned down to Danny. "My son," she whispered, cupping his face in her hands. She hugged him.

"Move along, folks," ordered Danni, skipping (yes, skipping) past the full-human girls. "Nothing to see here. They're just saying good-bye." But her grin, the spring in her step, proved she was lying. "The barge is _this _way, ladies."

Pandora was canny enough to realize that Danny wouldn't appreciate a vessel decked out in his infamous DP logo, but that didn't stop her from decorating it in the royal black and white. Everything was in the High King's colors: the down-stuffed cushions, the silken banners, the servants' uniforms. Even the oars bore ebony or silvered handles. The overriding effect was a parade float of the sort that would carry some important person, which was exactly what she'd aimed for. Her son was a king, and he was going to travel like one.

"Fly safely!" cried Pandora, waving frantically. "And give the King of Ice my regards, and your message! Frostbite will be most displeased if you do not!" She laughed with the sheer joy of it. Her daughter, her Danni, was getting married. Her son, her Danny, was finally accepting his royal destiny.

They grew up too fast.

She kept waving long after the barge had vanished from sight.

* * *

><p>The barge was large enough that its riders could talk without being overheard. Both conversations centered on Dash. Valerie, Star, and Paullina wondered why he'd abandoned them all. Danny just explained what had happened to Sam.<p>

The Goth girl took it with her characteristic practicality. "Make sure Clockwork doesn't send you back too soon, or else Dash might not have made up his mind. Give him a year or two."

"Yeah." Her boyfriend's gaze drifted starboard, towards Pandora's Palace and Phantom's Keep. "I just hope they haven't killed him yet." But he was smiling.

"You're that happy about getting rid of him, huh?" Sam teased.

Danny jerked. "What? No, of course not! It's horrible that he'd rather live with cannibals than go home to his family. This is something else entirely." He bit his lip. It was easy enough to tell Pandora and Danni; they dwelt in the Ghost Zone. They _wanted _him to stay. Sam, though, was human. She lived in the human realm. How could he tell her that he was leaving?

And what about Tucker and Jazz? Neither the techno-geek nor his elder sister had any idea what had happened. They must be worried out of their minds. He would have to tell them. Maybe he could write a letter? Or he could just go back with everyone, stop by Tuck's house and Jazz's school to explain what had happened, and sneak back into the Ghost Zone. That was probably the better idea.

"So what are you so happy about?"

Danny looked at her, memorizing her every feature: the way her dark hair blew in the wind, the way her eyes sparkled with mischief and curiosity, the teasing curve of her mouth. She was beautiful, so beautiful that he couldn't look anymore. The hybrid averted his gaze. His voice was hoarse, quiet. "I'm staying in the Ghost Zone."

No response. That was probably a bad thing. He hurried to explain. "You know how when I turned sixteen, I became the unofficial High King of All Ghosts for defeating Pariah Dark? I haven't really done a good job at it. I've been running away. It scares me, being king. At first I didn't want it, which is why I stayed in the human realm, but now- I don't exactly want it, but it's something I need to do. But a ghost king can't live- er, exist- in the human realm, so I have to stay here. Uh, not here exactly. In my keep. Y'know, Pariah's old castle?"

Sam met his gaze. For long seconds they stood there, staring, drinking in the other's features. Finally the young woman asked, "Is my room ready yet?"

It was quite possibly the last answer her boyfriend had expected. "Your room?"

"At your keep," she expounded. "You didn't really think I'd let my boyfriend run off to the Ghost Zone all by himself, did you?" She smiled. "Besides, you need someone to keep you out of trouble."

Danny's jaw worked silently. "But- your family- your graduation-"

"Grandma is already in the Ghost Zone. This way I can visit her more easily. My parents, though…." She grimaced. "All the family that matters to me is already here. And as for my graduation, ever heard of correspondence courses? I'll finish high school over the Internet. Who knows? Maybe we can convince Tucker and Jazz to join us."

Her boyfriend gawked. Adoration rose up in him like a wave; never before had he loved her so much. She was staying with him. She would abandon everything for him. His beautiful, fierce, tough, independent girlfriend was going to stay with him in the Ghost Zone.

Scarcely cognizant of what he was doing, the halfa dropped to his knees. He began babbling. "Sam, I know that we've only dated for three hundred and sixty-four days and our anniversary's not until tomorrow, but I love you. I love you a lot. I don't know how I could survive without you. I wouldn't _want _to." He grabbed his backpack, the dirty old purple sack that had started everything, and dumped out its contents. "And I know that this is really sudden, but-" There it was. He had found it. Beaming, Danny presented the Ring of Rage (which a very angry Observant had delivered to him on his sixteenth birthday. To this day he had no idea how it had gotten the item out of the Sarcophagus) to his girlfriend. "Sam Manson, every king needs a queen, and I can't think of a better queen than the woman in front of me. Will you marry me?"

Silence. Danny was afraid to look up, terrified of rejection. Then Sam laughed, that beautiful laugh he loved so much. "Are you seriously using an ancient ghost artifact of doom for our engagement ring?"

"Sort of. I'll find you a better one when things have calmed down. Uh, that is, if you say yes." He grinned.

Sam glowed. "Danny Fenton-Phantom, of course I'll marry you. Of course, we'll have to tell my parents that you're half-ghost- not that you're a king, just that you're half-ghost. They'll _love _that. And we'll have to get Tucker and Jazz. And Danni. Maybe we should do a double wedding…." She gave up. Tears streamed from her eyes. Danny, her boyfriend, her fiancée, was sniffling too.

Their eyes met, and the Goth gasped. "What?" her love wondered.

"Your eyes."

Danny's eyes had changed. Before, they'd been as blue as Earth's sky. Now, though, they'd transformed. Shafts of blue radiated out from his pupils, but the azure lines were separated by shafts of verdant green and teal. Then he blinked, and his eyes were normal again.

He listened to her description calmly, not surprised at all. "Remember how my eyes used to go green when I was angry? This is kind of like that, oh queen of my heart."

Sam's eyebrow quirked. "So you were angry, huh, lover-boy?"

He seemed to shine. "No. But when you said you would marry me," his voice was filled with quiet thrill, "I was happier than I've ever been in my half-life. That's why my eyes changed." He embraced her. "I have the feeling, bride of mine, that they'll be changing a lot more in the future."

They held each other for a long, long time.


	10. Identity

"So who exactly is this Frostbite guy?" Valerie wondered.

Danny broke apart from Sam. "Sorry, what was that?"

She repeated herself. "Who exactly is Frostbite? The rowers say we're almost there, and I'd kind of like to know who's meeting us."

The hero grinned. He opened his mouth to answer, but Sam interrupted. "Frostbite is Danny's pet snow monster."

Stare.

"Sam! We've been over this. Frostbite is the king of an ancient and noble people, _not_ my pet snow monster!"

She snorted. "Just keep telling yourself that."

"I get the feeling that we're missing something," whispered Star. Paullina nodded.

"So this Frostbite guy is a king?" Valerie wondered. "Wow, Danny, how many royals do you know?"

The halfa took her question literally. "Let's see… Dora and Aragon, Desiree, Frostbite, Pandora, Danni, Epimetheus and Prometheus, Pariah Dark… does that count? Eight if he doesn't, nine if he does. No, it's nine. He counts."

"…It was a rhetorical question."

Danny blushed. "Oh. Okay. Frostbite is the King of Ice, meaning that all his subjects are ice elementals, which is why we're currently disembarking in a frozen wasteland."

The barge had stopped. The helmsman chewed his lip. "Your Highness," he began in Greek, "would you like us to remain until the Snow King's retinue arrives?"

"No thanks," Danny laughed, speaking the same language. "We're in friendly territory now, and Frostbite will be here any second. Besides, I've no doubt that Pandora has other uses for you." His eyes sparked. For a second, green shafts appeared in his irises, but they were gone before anyone could see for sure.

"As you command, my liege." The helmsman saluted, then re-entered the barge. It took off, soared across the sky until it became a spot in the distance. Soon, even the spot was gone.

"So where is your friend?" Valerie finally asked.

Danny frowned. "I don't know. It's not like Frostbite to be late. He-"

"Is currently chasing my minion in a wild goose chase," interrupted a snide voice. The younger halfa stiffened, silently cursing Far Frozen's temperature. His breath had been visible for quite some time, but he'd chalked that up to the cold, not his ghost sense.

"Plasmius." The word was a snarl.

Vladimir Masters-Plasmius, half-ghost businessman and potentially pedophiliac stalker (Tucker swore that he wanted Danny as far more than a son, and the hero had a nasty feeling his friend was right), floated before them in all his vampire-esque glory. The elder halfa's arms were crossed, and an obnoxious smirk twisted his features.

"What do _you_ want?"

The smirk grew wider. "Why, Daniel, I'm here to rescue you. After all, six teenagers lost and alone in a hostile dimension? It's a miracle you've only lost one _so far._" He readied a plasma blast. "Poor, poor children, your protector helpless, your escape blocked, your- why are you looking at me like that?"

Danny's smile was hard as stone, cold as their environment. "Because, _mayor_, you're wrong." His eyes blazed green. A silvery ring materialized around his waist. "I am _never_ helpless."

The rings split, and Danny Fenton, Danny _Phantom_, shot into the air.

Valerie screamed. Paullina fainted. Star gawked. Sam just groaned. "You'd _better _know what you're doing…."

No one was more surprised by his transformation that Plasmius. "But- your _identity-_" he began, only to be cut off by a punch to his jaw.

"Doesn't matter anymore," Danny growled. "I'm staying in the Ghost Zone, Vlad." A kick to the abdomen. "So what if the full-humans know my real name?" A trio of ecto-blasts, forcing him to the ground. "Unlike you, I have a home." Vlad landed in the snow. The force of his impact created a crater of shattered ice and scattered snow. "It's here, not Amity Park." He dove, peppering his fallen enemy with blasts. "So my secret _doesn't matter anymore." _He grabbed the fruit loop by his collar. Black rings materialized around Plasmius's waist. Danny smirked.

"Too bad you can't say the same." He wheeled around just as the rings split, revealing Vlad Masters, mayor of Amity Park, to his stunned (and in Sam's case, disapproving) audience.

Vlad blinked blearily at the human girls. "Oh, butter biscuits."

"You can say that again," his enemy laughed. Then his eyes narrowed. "Start talking, Plasmius."

What followed was a horrifying confession, a litany of manipulation that nearly left Valerie in tears. Vlad was a thief, a killer, a psychopath. He'd lied, overshadowed, stolen to get what he wanted. And that was even before he admitted what he'd done to the Red Huntress.

He tried to say her name, but Danny (Fenton, Phantom, how had she not noticed that?) stopped him. "I have no quarrel with the Red Huntress," he announced. "She's good, just misguided. You will not expose her." For a brief second he met her eye. Valerie turned away, ashamed and confused and miserable.

The world was upside down. Her enemy was her ex-boyfriend. Her mentor, her beloved confidante and friend, had used her. She was his pawn.

No. She _had been _his pawn. Not anymore.

"Great One!" bellowed a male voice, interrupting her reverie. Valerie took one look at the speaker- and screamed.

The _thing_ in front of them was a monster, a twelve-foot beast all covered in matted white fur and claws and fangs. Its teeth were bare, threatening.

Even worse, there were almost a dozen of them, all with their teeth exposed. The leader, even taller than the rest, its arm torn off and replaced by a chunk of ice, held out its claws.

"Frostbite!" cried Danny gleefully. He flew into the lead monster's open arms, embraced him. The creature laughed, and Valerie realized that its teeth were only bare to smile.

"My apologies, Great One, that we were delayed. The Fright Knight was rampaging through a nearby village, and we thought we had enough time to stop him before your arrival."

Valerie sat down, hard. _This_ was Frostbite?

"Don't worry," the halfa laughed, still wrapped up in his friend's arms. "It was Vlad's idea; you know how manipulative he can be. Speaking of which-" Those green eyes narrowed. Danny took off, landed in front of the elder halfa, who had been trying to escape. "Going somewhere?"

Black rings fizzled around Vlad's torn suit. His rival snorted, grabbed him by the collar. To add insult to injury, he created a snowy bow and plopped it onto Plasmius's head. "Happy birthday, Frostbite. I believe that this guy is in violation of, like, five hundred local laws?"

The yeti's grin was back, larger and toothier than ever. "Yes. Yes he is."

Vlad squeaked. Danny, Sam, and the ice monsters cackled. Valerie and Star were too confused to do anything. Paullina was still unconscious.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Danny chuckled. The giant was hugging him again, but he didn't seem to mind. Valerie suddenly wondered which ghost male was the other's pet.

"Four years?" guessed one of the other yetis. He was leaning over Paullina with a stethoscope (where had that come from?), checking the popular girl's vitals.

"Okay, fine, you do have an idea." He blinked. "Right. Intro time. Everyone, this is Valerie Gray and Star Anderson. Paullina Sanchez is out cold, and you already know my fiancée."

The snow monsters gawked. "Fiancée?" the King of Ice exclaimed. Sam smirked, holding out her right hand. There was a new ring on it, a creepy green skull. It looked oddly familiar, but Valerie couldn't place it.

"Congratulations!" cried Frostbite, hugging Danny tighter. "But is that the Ring of Rage?"

His friend shrugged sheepishly. "It was kinda impulsive, and ol' Grouchy here was the only ring I had on hand. I'm getting her a better one once we've returned these three to the human realm."

The Red Huntress's flabbergasted brain latched onto the one thing that made sense in this insane new world. "What does that mean? Are you staying? You _are_ staying!"

The white rings appeared, and Danny Fenton slipped out of Frostbite's arms. He was blushing. "Yeah. I'm staying. And Sam's staying with me."

Tears of joy poured from Frostbite's eyes. "Does this mean…?"

"Yes. It does." Something passed between the two specters, something joyous but also shy. It wasn't the kind of thing that should be spoken aloud. Frostbite snuffled, then sobbed, leaning on Danny's shoulders. His retinue just looked as confused as Valerie felt.

Fortunately (or perhaps not) the awkwardness was interrupted by Paullina's awakening. She took one look at the concerned ice monster leaning over her, screamed bloody murder, and fainted once again.

Paullina's reaction should have worsened the tension. Instead, it shattered it. Everyone laughed, and Frostbite presented Danny with a rolled-up piece of parchment. "For you, Great One," he said reverently. "We will look after Lady Sam until your return."

Sam muttered something about not needing a baby-sitter, but she was smiling.

"Shall we?" Danny teased, unrolling the parchment.

"Let's," whispered Valerie, laying her hand on his. "And Danny? Thanks."

He understood. "You're welcome. Star, grab Paullina. Brace yourselves, this is kind of like a roller coaster." He sucked in a deep breath. "FentonWorks!"

He hadn't exaggerated. If anything, he had understated the map's turbulence. Valerie, Star, and Paullina (no one could sleep through that ride) screamed and screamed-

Until the map stopped.

The huntress staggered, trying and failing to regain her balance. She squeezed her eyes shut, not even caring where they were as long as they weren't moving. Beside her, she heard Danny mutter, "Oh _flames."_

"Valerie!" cried her father's voice, and suddenly Damien's arms were wrapped around her. She was vaguely aware of other blissful reunions- the Sanchezes, the Andersons, but not the Mansons or Baxters. Or the Fentons.

"Back, everyone!" yelled Jack. "They might be contaminated!" He pulled a ridiculously huge gun out of nowhere and aimed it at the travelers.

"Now, Jack," his wife rebuked, "remember to only hit the ones who've actually been there."

Damien Gray placed himself between Valerie and the insane ghost hunters. "Nobody is shooting my daughter."

"We're not hurting her, we're just decontaminating her!" explained Maddie, hoisting her own smaller gun.

"Where's my Sammy?" howled Mrs. Manson. "Where is she!"

In all the commotion, no one noticed two figures slip away.

"I can't believe you're home," Danny said, grinning up at his elder sister.

Jazz grinned back. "Well, I wasn't going to stay at school while my little brother was trapped in an alternate dimension, was I? King or no, you need me to look after you." She ruffled his hair.

Her brother flinched. "Actually, I'm staying in the Ghost Zone." He sat down on his bed, staring mournfully at his shoes.

Jazz plopped down next to him. "I was wondering when you'd take the plunge," she whispered. "You never abandon your responsibilities- and the Ghost Zone has been your responsibility ever since Clockwork told you what it means to single-handedly overthrow a king."

The hybrid chuckled at the memory. "Sam's staying with me," he continued. "I was so happy that I got down and proposed."

His sister squealed. "That's wonderful! First Danni and Achilles, now you and Sam!"

"How did you know about Achilles?"

"She sent one of Pandora's messengers to my dorm." She hugged him. "You don't have much time before Mom and Dad realize we're gone. Go tell Tucker the good news- he's at Caspar. I'll start packing."

"Thanks, Jazz. You're the best big sister ever." He shifted into ghost form and flew away.

He found the techno-geek sitting all alone in Caspar High's cafeteria, fiddling halfheartedly with his PDA. Not even the electronic device made him smile.

Danny flew into his friend's body. This was a technique he'd discovered by accident almost two years ago. It wasn't overshadowing- Tucker still had control of his own body- but it allowed them to communicate mind-to-mind.

_Danny! You're back! _

_Yeah. Man, I've missed you. _

_Ditto. Of all the times to get sick…. So what happened?_

Silent laughter. _Do you mind if I just show you? _

A groan. _Ah, man. I hate memory sharing. But I'm guessing you need to be somewhere? _

_Yeah._ Danny's mind-voice was embarrassed. _My ex-parents haven't noticed I'm gone yet, but they will soon. I need to get back. _

Sigh._ Then fire away. _

Images and emotions exploded in Tucker's head: anxiety over the missing map, the confrontation in the basement, the Box Ghost, Skulker, Poindexter and Yvonne Walker, Pandora and Danni, Dash and the cannibals, the barge, Sam taking the Ring of Rage, Vlad's attack, his revelation, and finally the current situation in the basement of FentonWorks.

_Oh,_ observed Tucker, slightly dizzy from the onslaught. _I guess you do need to go back. Congratulations, by the way! _

_On what? _Danny teased. _It's not like anything good has happened lately._

Tucker laughed out loud, startling several nearby punks. _On you and Sam, on Danni and Achilles, on you _finally_ accepting your royal-ness. Does this mean I have to call you Your Majesty? _

_Nah, I think that only peasants have to do that. I'll make you a duke or something. _He caught a flicker of thought in the techno-geek's mind. _Unless you'd rather be mayor of my capital instead? _

_Hey, don't do that! That was personal. _

_And as soon as I get the paperwork done and build a capital, it'll be reality. Just consider it my way of saying thank you. _

_Knock it off, Danny. I don't do sappiness._ But they both knew that his tear ducts were near to overflowing.

_I'll contact you, _the hybrid swore. _That's a promise. And I always keep my promises. _

_I know you do, Danny. Just be careful, okay? And say hi to Sam for me. Bye. _

_Goodbye, Brother._

* * *

><p>Back in his room, Jazz was frantically stuffing clean boxers into a suitcase. "Ah come on! Why did you have to start with those?"<p>

"You're welcome," she retorted.

Danny laughed, shifting back into human form. Not even a female going through his underwear could spoil his mood.

Laptop, photo album, shirts, socks, a couple books… his suitcase was ready to burst. Finally it was physically impossible to fit anything else inside.

Brother and sister stared awkwardly at one another. "So," mumbled Danny, rubbing his neck, "I guess this is it."

Jazz's eyes gleamed. "I guess it is," she choked. "Come here, little brother."

They embraced, each trying desperately not to cry. Finally, the two siblings broke apart.

"You'll be careful, won't you?"

"I'll be careful. And as soon as I get settled in, I'll find a way for you to come visit."

"Right."

The door burst open, falling right off its hinges. Jack beamed, hoisting his ginormous ecto-gun. "Danny! We're gonna decontaminate you!"

The hybrid's blue eyes went wide. "Bye Jazz, gotta go!" he cried, lunging for the Infi-map.

His father raised the gun-

"Far Frozen!"

-but the son was gone.

* * *

><p>A very fast chapter, but that's because things are speeding up as we approach the false and then the real climaxes. Watch out, though, because the next few chapters are filled with plot twists, betrayals, and cunning plots. It's gonna be great!<p>

-Corona


	11. The Rescue Mission

Jack and Maddie Fenton stared in mute horror as some kind of paper flew off with their son. There was only one conclusion: it was a GHOST paper, and it had kidnapped their baby!

"NOOOOOOOOO!" The overweight hunter fell to his knees. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Good bye!" cried Jazz, waving, tears leaking from her eyes, even though her brother was long gone.

"Good bye?" repeated Maddie incredulously. "Your brother has been forcefully torn from his loving and wonderful family by a bunch of filthy ghost monsters, and all you can say is good bye?"

"Loving and wonderful family?" the younger redhead sneered. "No. He's not leaving behind a 'loving and wonderful family.' He's going towards it."

The elder Fentons had two options: either stand there forcing reason into their obviously brainwashed daughter while their son went farther and farther away, or rescue their son while they could still find him and decontaminate Jazz later.

"Sorry, honey," Maddie said, taking out yet another ecto-gun, "but you'll understand one day."

"Mom?" Jazz's eyes were wide with fear. "I'm fairly certain that shooting me counts as child abuse."

Maddie shot. Sticky green goo exploded from the barrel, covering Jazz's feet. She tried to move, but the goo held her fast.

"Don't worry, sweetie. We'll un-brainwash you as soon as your brother's back."

"He doesn't want to go back! Haven't you noticed that he hasn't been happy here for years? But he _will_ be happy now. You can't just take that away from him!" Then, as an afterthought, "And I'm not brainwashed!"

Her parents walked out of their runaway's room. The door slammed shut behind them.

* * *

><p>Valerie and her father had retreated to a relatively quiet corner of FentonWork's basement, where she had spent the last twenty minutes ranting about what had happened to her. Damien Gray listened with enormous eyes, trying to take it all in. Their mayor was an evil ghost? Sweet little Danny Fenton, who sometimes subbed for his daughter at the Nasty Burger, who sometimes carried her home after ghost battles ("I just found her. Out cold. Totally randomly…. Uh…. Bye."), was Danny Phantom? And not only that, he was some kind of ghost prince and <em>his daughter didn't mind!<em> In a way, that was the most incredible realization of all. Valerie didn't mind. She certainly _minded_ Vlad, but not Danny.

He thought longingly of his secret brandy stash. He really needed something strong.

Then half the Fenton family charged into the basement, ranting about "ghosts" (no surprise there), "kidnapping," and "brainwashing." "We're going to the Ghost Zone!" yelled Maddie.

"Ghosts!" parroted her husband.

Blank stares. Then Jeremy Manson demanded, "When?"

"Now!" the hunters chorused.

Maddie continued, "They've got two of our little boys and your little girl- and she's my future daughter-in-law." (The Mansons twitched.) "They've obviously been brainwashed by evil ghosts and are probably languishing in terrified pain right now!"

Valerie cut her off. "Uh, Mrs. Fenton? Dash ran away, and Danny and Sam _want_ to stay." And I don't blame them. You people are insane!

Naturally, they ignored her. "Mansons, you get food! Baxters, help us clear out the weapons vault!"

"…You have a weapons vault?"

"Of course. What kind of ghost hunter wouldn't?"

But the weapons vault was completely empty. Valerie stifled a grin; apparently Danny was smarter than she'd thought. But of course he was- after all, he'd hidden his identity from everyone for four years.

"We should go home now," whispered Damien.

His daughter hesitated. He glared. "Surely you don't want to go with them?"

She bit her lip. "I think I have to. Let me explain- Danny could have let Vlad expose me. If that happened, I'd've been ruined. You know how kids at school see the Red Huntress." She smiled bitterly. "Actually, they're probably right. I _was_ an obsessed maniac. But the point is, he helped me even when he had no reason to. I would have taken revenge. Danny didn't. I… I want to help."

Damien was miserable. "I understand," he sighed. "And you're right- it _is_ the right thing to do." He smiled. "I'm proud of you, Valerie. But-" His eyes narrowed. "-I'm coming with you."

"What? Dad, you know nothing about ghosts, or hunting, or the Ghost Zone, or-"

"I know enough to help," he declared.

Valerie sniffled. "I love you, Dad." She turned to the Fentons, who were scrounging up every weapon that hadn't been in their vault. "We're coming too. If Danny, Sam, and Dash have been kidnapped by evil ghosts, you need all the help you can get!"

Maddie beamed. "See, Jack? I told you the contamination would wear off after a few minutes in the human realm!"

The Red Huntress sidled over to the Sanchezes and the Andersons. Star and Paullina, their eyes rimmed with tears, blinked at her. "Look," she whispered. "I think we can all agree that some of the stuff we've learned about Danny is_ private,_ okay?"

"You mean like him being the Ghost Boy?" blurted Paullina stupidly. All four adults gasped.

Valerie hit herself.

* * *

><p>"So how are we supposed to find them?" groused Pamela Manson.<p>

"I'm not really sure," admitted Maddie, fiddling with the Specter Speeder's controls.

"What!"

"Well, Jack and I have never been in the Ghost Zone before. We'd be mobbed the second we entered. I- _we_ are excellent ghost hunters, but no one can handle an entire army, so we decided not to go in."

Mrs. Manson looked ready to have a panic attack.

"Don't worry," advised Valerie. "The entire time we were in here before, we were only attacked twice, and Danny beat them off easily." She smiled softly, realizing that he could have let her fight them- Phantom knew of the Huntress's identity- but he'd risked his own secret instead of letting her expose herself.

Damien quirked an eyebrow. Valerie shook her head. _Not now, Dad._

"Yes," Maddie agreed, "but Danny's not a famous ghost hunter."

The teen snorted. "Mrs. Fenton, everybody recognized him: the Box Ghost, Skulker, Sidney Poindexter, the entire population of Achaea, the Far Frozen-"

"Danny is the _son_ of two famous ghost hunters," she sniffed. "Of course they recognized him."

Valerie gave up. Neither hunter was going to see reason anytime soon, so there was really no point in arguing.

Unfortunately, her comments reminded Jack that Valerie actually _had_ been in the Ghost Zone. He started quizzing her on what it was like, not stopping long enough for her to answer. Finally the girl lost patience. "Maybe we should actually _open the portal and go inside_ so you can see for yourself!"

They had not left FentonWork's basement.

Maddie frowned but obeyed, turning the Speeder around so it faced the portal. The doors opened, revealing a swirling expanse of venom green. Valerie shuddered involuntarily, unable to believe that she was going back so soon. Damien patted her shoulder. At the other end of the Speeder, Mrs. Manson whimpered, huddling with the ghost-white Mrs. Baxter.

Maddie sucked in a deep breath and floored the accelerator. With a growl like an angry bear, the Specter Speeder lurched forward.

They entered the Land of the Dead.

It hadn't changed much, Valerie mused: same old doors, same old green sky. But of course, she'd only been out for two hours. It hadn't had time to change.

Radar beeped on the dashboard, a pale green line sweeping over the surrounding area. There were a couple ghosts on the fringes, but nothing nearby. "Good," whispered Maddie, pale and sickly in the dimension's eerie light.

She gulped. Frightened as she was, she at least had experience with these beasts. She had to be strong, a leader.

She just wished she knew what she was doing.

"All right," Maddie finally managed. "All right. We're in the Ghost Zone, and the closest ghosts are half a mile away. We have enough supplies for five days. That's two and a half days in, two and a half days out."

Josh Baxter had been silent until now, but he couldn't hold in his questions any longer. "So how are we going to find our children?" he demanded. "Do you even have a plan?"

Surprisingly, it was Jack who answered. "Real world items."

"I'm sorry?" But Josh didn't sound sorry at all.

"We have a real world item detector," he explained. "We put it in in case the ghosts decided to steal our weapons. Hopefully, it will work for humans, or at least for their clothes."

Valerie hesitated. If she mentioned that Pandora had taken their 'real world' clothes (which in turn had been taken from Yvonne Walker), she would buy time for Danny. On the other hand, she wouldn't put it past these people to assault Achaea in a vain attempt to get their ex-son back. She sighed; she couldn't do that to Pandora and Danni, not after they'd been so hospitable. "Ignore the clothes," she ordered. The adults glared. "No, I'm serious. We got new clothes from a ghost, remember? We all came back wearing Greek things. If you find clothes on the radar, it will just lead us to Pandora's Palace."

"Is that the ghost who kidnapped them?" demanded Jack. "Maddie, I think that's the ghost who kidnapped them!"

"I think you're right, sweetie. Valerie, how do we get to this 'Pandora's Palace'?" She actually used air quotes on the last two words.

The huntress cursed silently; _that_ had gone over well! "I don't know," she admitted truthfully. "We went through a couple natural portals to get there, so I really have no idea where it is in relation to the Fenton Portal." She glanced behind them. The Fenton Portal had vanished, swallowed up by the endless green sky. "Besides, I don't think it's Pandora who took him."

They ignored her again. How predictable.

Sharon Baxter spoke up. "We should kidnap one of those ghosts and force it to tell us where my baby is!"

"Great idea!" shouted Maddie, wheeling the Specter Speeder around.

Valerie was getting nervous. She'd seen these people hunt ghosts, and it wasn't pretty. They rarely succeeded in defeating spirits but were very good at making them mad. Now that they were all in the ghosts' own dimension with no way out, it seemed like a very bad idea to attack.

She tried explaining this, but no one but Damien paid attention.

The ghost they found was wandering in his pajamas, looking lost and sad. His ugly face lit up upon seeing the humans. "Will you be my friend?"

Maddie sucked him into something that looked like a small vacuum cleaner. "Where's my son, you filthy ball of protoplasmic evil!"

"I don't know," Klemper moaned. "Why won't you be my friend?"

"Not knowing isn't good enough, ghost," spat the hunter. "Where is Danny Fenton?" She glanced at the other adults, none of whom looked pleased. "And Sam Manson and Dash Baxter?"

"Danny Fenton-Phantom?" Klemper sounded hopeful. Maddie and Jack choked. Their lips formed the appalled word, 'Phantom?' "He's nice. He gave me a puppy named Cujo an' told me how to take care of him, and all he wanted in return was for me an' my puppy not to visit Amity Park. He's a good friend."

"Where. Is. He."

"I dunno. Visiting friends? He has lotsa friends." The ghost sighed. "I wish I had friends."

"Let me try," hissed Pamela. She leaned over the vacuum thing. "We're Danny's friends, too," she lied, grimacing. "But he's run away from home."

"Oh no!"

"Yes, oh no. We're trying to find him. Do you know where he is?"

"Uh…" They could almost hear the gears turning in his head. "Didja check Pandora's Palace? He's got lotsa friends there, an' a mommy an' two uncles an' sometimes a sister."

"A palace," sneered Maddie. "Ghosts are too primitive for palaces. It's probably just a larger-than-normal hut."

"Uh, no." Valerie was beginning to get annoyed. Was this how she once was? "Trust me, it's a palace."

Once again, she was ignored. Why did she even bother?

The adults began debating whether or not to let Klemper go. The hunters didn't want to, citing the fact that he could alert other ghosts to their presence. The Mansons and Baxters pointed out that they'd need all the containment space they could get when they actually rescued their babies. Eventually, they decided to release him a mile or two from the palace.

The trip was uneventful. Contrary to the Fentons' expectations, ghosts actually avoided the silvery vehicle. The humans flew at random, waiting for the radar to pick up on human items. Finally, after hours of fruitless floating, a tiny blip appeared on the edge of the screen.

"Full speed ahead," ordered Jack.

"No, honey, full speed thirty-five degrees to the left." His wife turned the Speeder.

Valerie was starting to get nervous. It was odd- a few days ago, she'd worried about protecting humans from evil ghosts. Now she wanted to protect the ghosts, even her former arch-nemesis, from other ghost hunters.

Soon a dark speck appeared in the distance. Valerie squinted, barely able to make out flecks of white. She kept watching as they went nearer and the vision became clearer. Yes, that was Achaea: the stark rocks, the marble palaces and temples, the labyrinth, the streets. She smiled before looking again at the other humans.

The adults' expressions were less than pleased. After all, Achaea was huge. It was also obviously heavily populated, and they still didn't know if Danny and Sam were really there.

"Ready the ecto-cannons," Maddie murmured.

Valerie's heart skipped a beat. "What for?"

"Why, to drive them out, of course." She made it sound like the most reasonable thing in the world.

"What?" She thought of Juniper and Danni, of the three royals, even of the weak little ghost she'd faced in the tournament- a tournament held partly in her honor. What would happen to them?

But Valerie never got to find out.

An army materialized before them, swords drawn.


	12. Carrot and Stick

Danny didn't wait for the Infi-map to stop before flashing into ghost form. Sam took one look at her fiance's face and groaned. "Okay, what went wrong?"

He quickly related what had happened. Sam and the yetis listened grimly. "You think they will come after you, Great One?" wondered Frostbite.

"I'm sure of it," his friend replied. "I know my ex-parents. If they hadn't seen me, they might have believed that I'd run away to someplace in the human realm. But when Jack aimed that gun at me, I panicked and let the Infi-map do its thing. Now they probably think I've been kidnapped by ghosts, and I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to summon an army." He paused, thought. "Actually, scratch that. They're too impatient to get an army. That's good, but they're still going to follow."

"So what will you do, Great One?" wondered one of the yetis.

Danny closed his eyes. "What I need to do is either convince them not all ghosts are bad or find some way to keep them out of this dimension permanently, preferably before they hurt anyone. But since they've already built the Fenton and proto-portals, not to mention the portable portals, Option B isn't that practical."

"Neither is Option A," pointed out Sam.

Frostbite seemed skeptical. "If they gave birth to the Great One, it shouldn't be too hard," he commented.

Both non-yetis stared. "You've obviously never met them. Trust us, Frostbite, it'll be hard."

Danny took over. "Okay, first things first. How can I convince them that invading the Ghost Zone and traumatizing my citizens are bad?" His brow furrowed. "Actually, there are two ways- either scaring the pants off them so they're too intimidated to ever come back or proving to them that not all ghosts are evil."

"Good luck with that," muttered his girlfriend. "Personally, I'd do the first."

"Why not both?" suggested Frostbite. The humans looked intrigued, so he continued. "There is an old saying about using carrots and sticks in conjunction. Perhaps you could greet them with a display of your mighty power before treating them to hospitality? That way they would know that you could harm them easily but do not wish to do so."

"You know, that might actually work," Danny mused. He grinned. "Yeah, I think it will. But I think an army would be more effective than just me- they face Phantom all the time, and they're not really impressed with me." The grin widened. "Can you lend me a few soldiers?"

Frostbite was grinning too. To a normal person- or even a quasi-normal person like Jack and Maddie- it would have been terrifying. To Danny, whose sense of "scary" had been warped by years of ghost hunting, it was adorable.

"Make sure your soldiers are scary-looking, not cute like you guys," he advised. Frostbite blinked, not certain what to make of that.

Sam swatted his head. "They're all scary-looking, you dweeb. Most people think that eleven-foot, fang-toothed, claw-fingered, fur-covered, spiky-tailed snow monsters are terrifying, not _cute._" She rolled her eyes. "Ignore him, Frostbite. He has slightly warped perceptions."

"As you command, my Lady."

She blinked. "Huh. I suppose I am. Weird."

They eventually decided on one thousand yeti troops, all armed with spiky maces, deadly sharp spears, and iron clubs. None of the soldiers wore armor. They looked more intimidating that way.

Pandora raised an eyebrow at the small army outside her palace. "Am I being invaded?" she asked dryly.

"No," her son sighed, "but you will be." He, Pandora, Frostbite, and Danni retreated into her personal chambers for a council of war. An hour later, the four warriors returned. Danni went to marshal her mother's troops, Pandora barked orders at the servants before going to assist her daughter, Frostbite instructed his own people, and Danny flew off with the Infi-map.

He hadn't been to Phantom's Keep (formerly known as Pariah's Keep) very much. Sure, it was technically his, but it didn't really feel like home. It was too large, too empty, and the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep gave him the creeps. He'd made a few halfhearted attempts to redecorate, but it hadn't changed much since Pariah's reign.

The servants Pandora had sent were trying to change that, dusting and sweeping like there was no tomorrow. They looked up at their king nervously, wondering why he had returned so soon. Danny assured them that they were doing just fine, carry on, before flying into the throne room.

Danny did not like Pariah's throne room. Just standing at its threshold brought back terrified, desperate memories- an exhausting struggle, fierce determination, the blinking numbers on his battle suit…. The hero shook himself. He'd never told anyone just how frightened he'd been in that fight. It was done, finished.

Still, he couldn't help but check over the Sarcophagus. No holes, no damage. Good. The last thing he needed was a rival king, though it would be just his luck if Pariah escaped again just when he'd accepted his royal destiny.

The hybrid stood nervously before the throne. He'd never sat on it, he'd never needed to, but he was the rightful king. Besides, it was necessary. Taking a deep breath, King Daniel of the Ghost Zone sat down.

The immense red chair was hard and uncomfortable, made of some stony material that he didn't recognize. It was too big for him- Pariah had been a giant, and though Danny wasn't small, he wasn't immense either. The arms were too high for him to reach.

An odd feeling burbled in his stomach. It felt like his guts were a guitar string that someone had plucked. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation, just bizarre.

Then his silver-white transformation rings appeared around the throne, separating slowly, almost solemnly. Danny jerked up, wondering what he'd done wrong. The rings continued to move apart.

The hero's jaw dropped. "Okay, you can stop that now!"

The rings did not obey.

The throne had changed. It was smaller now, a high-backed stone chair for a tall man. The stone was black, perhaps obsidian, and flecked with little specks of silver. The classic DP symbol was carved in silver across the top.

But the rings didn't stop there. They expanded, flashing outwards to encompass the entire castle. As Danny watched in disbelieving stupefaction, the castle's interior changed. Before it had been blood red and vaguely evil-looking. Now its floors were black-and-white checked, its walls dove gray, its high white ceiling vaulted with darker ribs. Windows appeared in the walls, letting in brilliant light that was augmented by an immense crystalline chandelier. Only the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep proved that this majestic but welcoming room had once belonged to Pariah Dark. Danny had no doubt that the rest of the castle was equally transformed.

"…Well, that was unexpected."

Terrified servants burst in, ranting about how the entire castle had changed. Danny tried to reassure them before giving up and ordering them all to go home for a few days. They could come back next week and finish- it wasn't like he was in any hurry. The grateful bondsmen fled.

"Now back to business." Danny sat on the throne again, nervously waiting for something else to happen. It didn't, for which he was profoundly grateful.

He thought back to Pariah's invasion: the skeleton armies marching through the streets, Valerie wearing the Ring of Rage, the ghost shield, his hometown sucked into a terrifying alternate dimension. The skeletons were bound to the king's will. Since Danny was now king, albeit uncrowned, he should be able to command them. That was why he'd come- to gather reinforcements.

So how did he make them come? He'd tried sitting on the throne; that hadn't worked. He supposed he was just supposed to call for them.

The hybrid grinned. "Attend me!" he barked, trying to sound suitably regal.

Then he spoiled the effect by shrieking.

The skeletons had heard him, and now they filled the throne room almost to overflowing. Danny stared at them, heart thudding. "Uh… hi."

As one, the skeletons dropped to their knees.

Danny's grin returned full force. "I'm gonna like this."

* * *

><p>Back in Achaea, Danni was frantically marshaling two thousand troops. Her brain worked erratically, trying to discern the most effective way to organize their army. Frostbite's troops had to be extremely visible… maybe a ring of Pandora's warriors with arrows drawn standing in front of the snow monsters? Yes, that would work, especially if the yetis floated one or two feet higher than their allies. It would make them seem larger and even more intimidating.<p>

So what should she do with Danny's skeletons (assuming he managed to find them)? She decided to put them in the back, cut off retreat.

As if on cue, her brother (human form) phased through the walls. "Did it work?" she asked.

"Yeah, but that's not all that happened."

Danni closed her eyes. "Look, I love you and all, but unless this has anything to do with these crazy ghost hunters, please save it for later."

He deflated. "I'll save it for later. How're preparations going?"

"Good," she shrugged. "It would be better if we knew a time limit, though."

Danny rolled his eyes. His sister was a phenomenal strategist. Achilles often joked that she could defeat the Ancients themselves with her brain, a paper clip, and a Fenton thermos. If she said preparations were good, they were in good hands. "Sorry. I don't know when they'll get here."

Danni quickly filled him in on her plans for arranging the troops, which Danny agreed to wholeheartedly. He had a couple touches of his own, a "demonstration" that would thoroughly cow them. The female halfa laughed.

"Danny!" Sam's voice echoed through the hall.

Both halfas flinched. "Yes?" they chorused.

"Not you, him," the Goth growled. Danni smirked. "Is there some reason I'm not supposed to greet them?"

"Because you're human and I don't want you to get hurt?" Danny cringed.

She snorted. "Nice try. I'm going out there with you. Do you honestly think they'd ever hurt me?"

"Not deliberately," the halfa admitted, "but I have no idea what their 'decontamination rays' would do to a human, and you know they'll try to hit you with one."

"We don't know what it will do to halfas and ghosts, either, but you're still going out there," she pointed out.

Danny sighed. "Fine, but I'm putting five of Frostbite's toughest fighters in front of you."

She rolled her eyes. Her boyfriend fought back a grin. "You just want to see your parents' expressions when they see me with my own army, don't you."

"Is that so wrong? I mean, you've met them."

He laughed.

Five hours and twenty-two minutes later, a scout reported that the Specter Speeder was half an hour away. It was occupied by eight humans, four male and four female.

"So my parents, yours, and Dash's," muttered Sam. "Who're the seventh and eighth?"

The scout launched into a lengthy description of the eight humans, revealing that the seventh and eighth were none other than Damien and Valerie Gray.

"I knew it!" Sam hissed. "I knew we couldn't trust her."

Danny frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think they're here to hurt us. Hear me out," he added, cutting off Sam's retort, "you didn't hear Valerie thank me. I think she's on our side now, that she and her father are trying to keep things from going pear-shaped."

"Then how do you explain how they found the city so easily?"

"The real world item detector would've picked up on our old clothes. Besides, it took them a lot longer than anyone expected. I think Valerie was trying to delay them."

Sam muttered something about "stubborn too-trusting halfa-breed twits" and stalked away.

"Positions, everyone!" Danny bellowed. He had created five duplicate to spread the news even faster. "And remember to stay invisible until I give the signal." His duplicates re-merged as he dashed into the stables.

The jet-black Pegasus nickered softly as its master approached. Danny smiled fondly. "Hey there, Bucephalus. Did ya miss me?"

The stallion neighed. Its master took that as a yes. "I missed you too, buddy."

Some stable hands had already saddled both the stallion and Danni's ebony mare, Ventovalko, so the young hero jumped onto his steed's back and directed him outside. "Ready to party?" he whispered.

Bucephalus gave him a devilishly human grin. Danny laughed.

Ghosts have the ability to make themselves invisible only to humans. They used that ability now to arrange themselves quickly and silently without attracting attention. Danny briefly wondered why the ghost detectors didn't go off and warn his former parents, but decided he didn't care. He positioned himself at the front of the army, right as his banner-man, a grizzled Greek warrior, set up the royal flag: his silver DP on a field of black, with intertwined lines of green and blue on the edge. Danny shook his head; the banner-man sighed but took it down. The humans knew and loathed the DP symbol, and the halfa didn't see any need to antagonize them.

The entire army, all five thousand troops, fell silent as the Specter Speeder glided through Danny's intangible skeletons. Every eye focused on the halfa, waiting for the signal. His eyes bored into the Speeder, also waiting.

The vehicle paused, seemed to hesitate. It swiveled, faced Achaea. Danny held up one arm, extremely conscious that timing was everything.

The Speeder made up its mind. Guns blossomed from its top, aimed straight at the vulnerable citadel.

Danny dropped his arm, and the army appeared.

* * *

><p>Ventovalko is Esperanto for wind-victory.<p>

I took the invisible-only-to-humans thing from the episode with Poindexter. Danny is floating around laughing, and he's surprised because Sidney can see him. To me, that implies that ghosts have a kind of selective invisibility so they can hide better in the human realm.

-Corona


	13. Blood at the Banquet

Maddie Fenton couldn't believe her eyes.

One second, the sky had been clear, save for the huge ghost city that Valerie called Achaea. The next, it was filled to overflowing with ghosts: humanoid ghosts with weapons, horrifying yeti monsters, glowing skeletons blocking their escape. And there, right at the head of the undead army, was her precious little baby, clad in full Greek armor and sitting on a glowing black Pegasus.

She fiddled with the speakers. "Hold on, Danny! We're here to save you!" She shot.

Danny leapt into action. Guiding the Pegasus with his knees, he swooped down to the first shots, expertly deflecting them with a brilliant silver sword. At the same time, five humanoid ghosts drew their bows and loosed. Maddie tried to return fire, but the arrows had destroyed her ecto-cannons.

Pamela sank to the floor. "We are all going to die," she sobbed. Jeremy leaned down to hold her.

Then Danny spoke. None of the humans had any idea how his voice reached them- he wasn't shouting, but he was too far away to not shout. It was almost as though he were in the Specter Speeder with them. "Jack and Maddie Fenton, Pamela and Jeremy Manson, Joshua and Sharon Baxter, and Damien and Valerie Gray, we have you surrounded. You have two options. Either leave this realm and never come back, or attend a peace dinner with the royals of Achaea. You have ten minutes to decide."

Jack grabbed the mike. "GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN, YOU EVIL GHOST!"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Time for the demonstration," he muttered under his breath, too quietly for the humans to hear. "Cue Box Ghost."

"Beware!" the obnoxious entity screamed, swooping down to one of the Greek soldiers. "For I-"

The soldier struck, her sword slicing through the invisible bag of ectoplasm her enemy had tied to his stomach. It flashed into visibility just as the ectoplasm squirted out, staining the Box Ghost's overalls as though he'd been gutted.

"Ah! I am wounded! I am slain!" He collapsed on his back like a dead fish. Danny rolled his eyes again. Boxy was _such _a drama queen.

The intruders were starting to panic. Valerie knew that the Box Ghost wasn't a threat, but no one else did. Jack and Maddie were thoroughly cowed- just as Danny intended.

"We should leave now," hissed Sharon, clutching Jack's jumpsuit.

"Not without Danny," the fat man retorted.

"They're going to _kill _us."

Valerie took advantage of the chaos to grab the microphone. Would Danny still respond to playful banter? She couldn't imagine why not; both Fenton and Phantom had. "So, what's for supper?"

She had done the right thing. The man on the Pegasus burst out laughing. "Everything. Hope you're hungry." His soldiers relaxed, and both Fentons spurred their mounts towards the vehicle. Danni rode on their left, Danny on their right. Together, the twins led their enemies into their home.

They stopped by the stables. The two youngest Fentons frowned impatiently at their guests. Valerie and Damien cautiously exited the Specter Speeder, followed by the elder Fentons, both of whom were giving Danni a very confused look. Maddie's first question was, "Who are you and why do you look like Danny?"

Blue eyes glinted with mischief. "Oh, I look like Danni because I am Danni."

"Don't you remember your daughter?" demanded Valerie. "You know, Danny's twin Danielle?"

"He doesn't have a twin. Trust me, I would know."

Danny shrugged, slinging an arm around his sister's shoulders. "I didn't have a twin when I was born, but I have one now. It's complicated. Everyone, meet Danni-with-an-i. Now come on before the food gets cold."

It was undoubtedly the strangest dinner Valerie had ever attended. All the seats at the High Table were assigned in a pattern: human, ghosts, human, ghost, with Danny (he and Danni counted themselves as ghosts) at the head, Sam and the huntress by his side. The Goth, magnificent in an indigo gown, glared. Valerie nervously waved back.

The young hero beamed. Here they were, human and ghost and halfa, all supping at the same table. He thought of the future, of his capital. He would build it around Pariah's Keep, the only city for miles. Both the living and the dead would populate it, and in time, there might even be a few more halfas growing up in its sheltering walls. He sighed blissfully. _Convergence. _

Then Sam stomped on his foot. He fought back a yelp, glared. She winked.

It was _so good _to see them all here, even under duress, but he couldn't help but feel a little sad.

The reason- actually reason_s_- for his melancholy sat side by side. Pandora had wanted to get to know Maddie and Jack, and the seating arrangements (for which she had been responsible; after all, it was her home) reflected that. The statuesque ghost sat between his two biological parents.

He'd once heard a quote in Lancer's class: It is not the woman who gave you life, but the woman that wiped your tears and kissed your cuts that is your mother. Pandora hadn't wiped his tears or kissed his cuts. She'd done better: she taught him how to wipe his own tears and to bandage his own wounds. She'd listened to his stories, laughed at his mishaps, comforted him, loved him- both halves of him. They weren't related by blood, but Queen Pandora of Achaea was far more his mother than Maddie Fenton. Maddie was just a wet nurse, someone to look after him until he met his real mother.

Still, though, it hurt to see them together, so see the contrast between them, and to know that his happiest childhood memories would forever be tainted.

This dinner was even more scrumptious than the last- herbed bread dipped in olive oil, chunks of feta and _misithra_, wild greens dotted with red pomegranate seeds and violet eggplant, steaming _brizoles_, _yida_, and five desserts- but Danny scarcely noticed. He was far more interested in the conversations.

The Fentons were ignoring the food, which in Jack's case was nothing less than a sign of the apocalypse. They were talking with Danni, trying to figure out how she was related to them. The halfa's lips settled in a thin line. Finally, she growled, "I'm his clone, all right?"

Jack choked, despite not having anything in his mouth. His lips worked silently. "But you're a girl," Maddie noted stupidly.

Danny took over. "She's not exactly a clone- clones are defined as exact genetic copies of their donor, and we're not genetically identical because she's a girl. But she was born when this one fruit loop tried to clone me, so that's how we explain our relationship to people who press." His eyes narrowed. "We prefer to say we're twins. Which we are."

Valerie hesitated. "So, if you're, uh, twins, does that mean she's-" She gestured incoherently.

Danni smiled. "Yeah, I'm a halfa too."

"A what?" wondered Maddie.

The hybrid sat up straighter. "A halfa. Half human, half ghost, both and neither. There are only three of us in the world, and two are sitting at this table."

Her brother grinned wickedly. "The other is enjoying Frostbite's hospitality in the Far Frozen."

"Impossible," Maddie snapped dismissively. "Humans can't have ghost powers."

After everything they'd been through, her denial seemed ridiculous. It _was _ridiculous.

Both humans with ghost powers snorted. "Well, far be it from us-"

"-to disagree with the world's greatest ghost hunter-"

"-even when she's blatantly wrong." Danni punctuated her words with an ecto-blast. The brilliant green plasma danced around her fingers in plain view of the astonished full-humans. "Shall we give more proof, brother mine?"

The hero bit his lip. Well, he mused, I have to show them sometime, and this is a pretty good opening. He closed his sky-blue eyes.

"I'm going ghost."

He opened his eyes. They were green.

Screams echoed through the hall. Heads jerked up, stared in horror as Maddie Fenton lunged across the table in a failed attempt to strangle their king. "GHOST!" yelled Jack, throwing his empty plate at the halfa's face. Naturally, it missed, hitting his wife (who wasn't even in the same general direction as her son) in the head. She shrieked.

Then the guards were there, swords at the hunters' throats. Frostbite glowered at them. "You dare attack the Great One?"

Danny raised a hand. "Let me handle this, Frostbite." The yeti reluctantly sat.

The halfa met his blood-mother's eyes. "When I was five, we tried to go to Disneyland but we missed the plane because you two tried to smuggle along some ecto-guns and the security guards thought you were terrorists. Then Jazz and I spent a week in Child Services because they thought you'd kidnaped us to use as camouflage. Finally the police acknowledged that you weren't trying to blow anything up and sent us all to Disneyland as an apology, but Jack captured Donald Duck and quizzed him on the Ghost Zone for almost two hours before the other tourists realized this wasn't part of the scheduled entertainment and called security. We're still banished for life- or half-life, in my case- from all Walt Disney-related- establishments."

Maddie froze. "How do you know that?" she breathed.

"Because I was there. It's me, Danny."

The huntress's mind whirled. She knew that it was impossible for someone to be human and ghost at the same time; no amount of evidence would ever convince her otherwise. Therefore, he had to be lying. But that didn't explain how her boy had changed into Phantom or how Phantom knew about their disastrous vacation.

There was only one possible explanation: that filthy, putrid manifestation of negativity and evil had overshadowed her poor baby for so long that he'd absorbed some of Danny's memories.

Her first impulse was to attack, but that wouldn't work. Phantom's minions would gut her, and her baby would still be in the monster's clutches. No, it was best to play along, to pretend to believe his disgusting lies. Then, once his guard was down, she would make him _beg_ to be torn apart molecule by molecule.

So, remembering her one acting class in college, Maddie schooled her features into an expression of repentant horror. "Danny? It _is _you!"

Jack, however, was not blessed with his wife's detective skills. "No it's not!" he bellowed. "It's a GHOST!"

The results of his outburst were predictable and painful- for Jack. His men attacked, slashing and punching and kicking. "Stop it!" Danny barked, but it was too late. The human was already out cold. The halfa sighed. "Bring him to the Amity Park Hospital. Tell them not to worry about insurance; I'll pay everything out of pocket." His guards saluted and flew out with the unconscious hunter's body.

"Okay, show's over, folks." Danny grinned nervously. "Now let's eat before the food gets cold."

The ghosts stared at him for a moment before getting back to business. It was a very good meal, after all. Maddie joined them- she needed her strength, and ghost food was better than no food at all. Besides, it made her look like she'd accepted her baby's slavery.

The Mansons had been observing in stunned disbelief. Sam smirked. Her father gulped. Pamela, though, leaned over and whispered, "Honey, you are not allowed to date a ghost."

"Sorry, I didn't catch that," Danny said innocently. Pamela blanched.

"Danny's only half-ghost," Sam assured her mother. "And we're not dating anymore. Danny and I are engaged."

Wine sprayed from Pamela's mouth into her daughter's face. Danny helpfully turned her intangible.

"You're _what!"_ This came from Danni, also in her ghost form. "You're engaged, and you have the nerve to lecture me about Achilles?"

"Hey, he only asked this morning," Sam pointed out, "and we've been kinda busy since then, y'know, with the invasion and all."

"And you told me not to talk about anything but the invasion until we'd dealt with it," Danny added.

"You still could have mentioned it," the hybrid girl groused. "I mean, I told you about Achilles within five minutes of your arrival." She glared. "But I'll forgive you if you give me all the details."

Sam was only too happy to oblige, especially with her parents there. Jeremy Manson would never be the same.

The Baxters were trying to make Pandora admit she'd kidnapped their own baby as part of some hideous take-over-the-world scheme. Naturally, she was getting annoyed. "I don't know what happened to your son," she sighed. "We haven't had much time to search for him. However, I guarantee that my Captain of the Guard is doing everything in his power to find him." She smirked wickedly. "In fact…" The queen gestured to a servant. "Find the Captain. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter would like to talk with him."

It took a bit of arguing, but the servant eventually dragged Dash over to his parents. The poor ghost was stiff with nerves. "Sir. Ma'am," he began, praying they wouldn't recognize him. "How may I be of assistance?"

They didn't recognize him. Dash fought back a sigh. It kind of hurt, seeing his parents stare at him with revulsion and disgust. Was this how Danny felt?

At the head of the table, the halfa in question dropped his fork. He stared at the guard in stunned recognition, mouth slowly moving up and down. Dash blushed, mouthed "I can explain."

Danny shot him a flat we-will-talk glare. The full ghost sighed.

Well, he mused, maybe I was wrong. Maybe this week is _good_ hectic, not the other kind. Maddie is taking it well, Danny and Sam are engaged, and I'm even seeing some positive ghost-human interaction with the Grays and Frostbite.

His musings were interrupted in a flash of blue light above the High Table. It was a portal, but what truly caught everyone's attention was the ghost who flew through it.

Both halfas dove, grabbed the bleeding form. "Father!"

* * *

><p>Shamrock17 drew the banquet scene out for several chapters, introducing several OCs and a conspiracy between the adult Mansons and Vlad. I obviously opted not to, partly for brevity's sake and partly to introduce a new subplot that will let Danni shine. However, our stories at this point still have one thing in common: this is when the bad stuff starts happening.<p>

-Corona


	14. Treachery

If you've read _Kith and Kin,_ forget everything I told you about the Ancients. In this fic, they are very different... and not in a good way.

* * *

><p>Pandora was his mother. She had loved him, comforted him, given him a place to relax or cry or just hang out. Pandora was his mother, but her husband Epimetheus wasn't his father.<p>

That honor belonged to Clockwork.

Though the ancient ghost spent one-third of his time in child form and another third in his mid-twenties, Danny always thought of him as the bearded, craggy-faced elder. That was a far more paternal image than either of his other forms. To Danny, the time ghost was powerful, invincible, invulnerable. To see him weak and bleeding, the glass in his chest shattered, age-shifting out of control, was terrifying.

It was even more frightening because he knew what it might mean. Clockwork was powerful; very few ghosts could scratch him, much less force him to retreat. Short of Pariah Dark himself, the only ghost capable of hurting him so much was….

Danny shuddered. He didn't want to think about it.

Frostbite had brought a pair of healers along, just in case the battle went badly. They carried the unconscious time ghost into a nearby room. Danni and Danny followed, pale and frightened. They kept glancing at each other.

_Do you think it was him? _

_I hope not. _

Danni snorted. _I didn't ask what you hoped for. I asked what you thought. _

…_I think it was him. _

The younger halfa nodded, her jaw set. _Then we'll fight him together. _

Danny smiled.

Frostbite's healers were hard at work, sewing up injuries, brewing potions, picking shattered glass out of his chest. They seemed to be everywhere at once. The two halfas returned to their human forms and focused on strong emotions- worry for their father, love, dread of what his wounded state implied. Hopefully Clockwork would absorb some of those feelings and grow stronger from them.

Blue eyes met blue. "Danny, we need to know for sure." Danni's voice was miserable.

Her brother nodded. "Hey, doc." The muscle-bound yeti looked up. His hands, which were cleaning Clockwork's wounds, did not falter.

"Do you have any potions that can wake him up?" Danny hated to ask, but Danni was right. They did need to know.

Otherwise, in the carnage to come, Clockwork's injuries would look downright mild.

The yeti, though, didn't know that. He glared. "You want me to awaken a highly injured patient?"

Danny flinched. "We need to know who did this to him," he explained quietly. "Believe me, sir, I've been injured enough to know that he's better off unconscious, but if there's a hostile ghost out there with enough power to take out the Master of All Time, I need to know."

The yeti grimaced but had to acknowledge that his liege had a point. "As you command, Great One," he mumbled grudgingly.

"Thanks," Danny sighed. "And I'm sorry. It's just that this needs to be done."

The potion, a noxious, semi-solid brown goo, took effect almost immediately. Clockwork's eyes sprung open immediately, much to the surprise of his caretaker. The time ghost blinked blearily, looking around in confusion. Then he saw the Fenton-Phantoms and clarity returned to his eyes.

"Was it him?" asked Danni quietly.

"Yes. And no."

Danny started. "What's that supposed to mean? This is no time for your usual riddles."

Clockwork shut his eyes. The halfas shuddered- it was awful to see him so weak and vulnerable.

"Several hours ago, the Observants sensed a change in Phantom's Keep. They realized what it meant immediately." He grimaced.

"You know what the Observants are like: paranoid, power-hungry, and ruthless. They knew that if the castle had changed, you were very near to fulfilling your destiny as King of All Ghosts and took steps to prevent you from being crowned."

Danny was numb. "The _Observants_ let him loose? I knew they were crazy, but that's- that's- that's insane, even for them. They know what's he's capable of. They know what he wants to do to the Ghost Zone, even to _them._ They've totally lost their minds!" By the time his tirade was over, he was almost shouting.

The doctor looked sick. "My Lord Clockwork, surely the Observants by themselves are incapable of defeating you?"

The time ghost met his eyes. "You are correct," he announced. "They summoned the Ancients."

The room's temperature dropped noticeably. Like Poindexter's high school students or Pariah's (now Danny's) skeletons, the Ancients were constructs- artificially animated ectoplasm, completely mindless and incapable of disobeying their masters' orders. Unlike the students or skeletons, though, the Ancients were much, _much_ more powerful than their creators. The Thirteen Ancients were the Observants' ultimate weapon, the sword they'd wielded to overthrow Pariah Dark (though they weren't truly the Ghost Zone's rulers because they hadn't defeated him in single combat) and to keep it under their control.

If they'd set any single Ancient, much less the entire Thirteen, on Clockwork, he was lucky to have escaped in one piece.

"Please oh please tell me that they're not letting him team up with the Ancients," Danny breathed. Dan by himself was bad enough; with the Ancients, he would be unbeatable.

Clockwork looked away. "I don't know," he admitted quietly. "My powers have limits- he exists out of time, and the Observants know my blind spots. However, I doubt that this is a team effort. He works alone, and their goal is to discredit you, not themselves."

"Well that's kinda reassuring."

"Yes." Clockwork sagged, eyelids fluttering. He forced them open, glanced at the doctor. "If you gave me some Azbenzol, I would be able to accelerate my healing."

The two halfas retreated to a corner. "What now?" wondered Danni.

"I don't know," her brother whispered. "If he's back, and he is, I have to stop him. But where is he?" The hybrid hid his face. "I don't know where he is, and I can't wait for him to show himself, because that would mean our battle was on his terms and someone would get hurt. Not to mention what he might do before seeking me out." His shoulders shook. "He's going to kill them, Danni. He's going to kill Sam and Tuck and my biological parents and even Mr. Lancer, and then he'll come after me, rip out my ghost half, kill my human half, and then absorb both halves and become even more powerful. And then he'll be king, too. One Pariah Dark was bad enough. Danni, I-"

"Calm down." She rested a hand on her brother's trembling shoulder. "That's not going to happen, Danny. We're going to find him, and we're going to win. No one's going to die, and when this is over everyone will celebrate."

"Are you sure?" Danny's voice was soft, afraid, almost childishly plaintive.

"I'm positive," his sister breathed. "You're stronger than him, Danny."

"You don't know that. You haven't seen his power…."

"That's not what I was talking about." She smiled. "You have one major advantage over that snake-tongued bastard: you exist. He does not."

"Are you sure?"

Danni hated seeing her proud, strong brother like this, and she hated Dan for doing this to him. "I'm sure," she vowed. "He will not win. I promise." Her eyes sparked, shafts of green and teal radiating from the pupils. "And Phantoms _always_ keep their promises."

Danny's smile was weak, uncertain, but it was still a smile. "You're right. And you know what else, oh twin of mine?" His voice grew stronger. "I promise to win."

* * *

><p>Sam paced.<p>

Things had been going _so well._ They'd all been there, having a peaceful dinner. Maddie had accepted her son, she and Danny were engaged, and, except for Jack, there hadn't been any casualties. Even Valerie was coming round!

Then Clockwork spoiled it by crashing onto the table.

Not that she blamed him. He'd obviously been attacked by something nasty and extremely powerful. It was natural that he wanted to be among friends.

She turned, dark skirts swishing against the floor.

How had Dan escaped? She had no doubt that it was the twisted maniac who had done this to him, but she had no idea how he'd gotten out. Clockwork had been de-aging the thermos every few days so it wouldn't explode, and it wasn't like him to simply forget.

Something didn't add up. Clockwork loved the Phantoms; he wouldn't have let Dan escape so near Danny's coronation, not if his afterlife depended on it. But who else could do this to him? He was the Master of All Time. He knew everything; why hadn't he predicted this attack?

Forgetting she was in the Ghost Zone, Sam slammed her fist against a wall. It went right through, unbalancing her. The Goth girl bit back a curse.

"So what exactly is going on?" Valerie questioned. Her eyes flickered nervously towards the impromptu sickroom. "Who was that?"

"His name is Clockwork," Sam replied. "He's Danny and Danni's father, just like Pandora is their mother. And he is very, very, _very _powerful."

"So he was taken by surprise?" suggested the huntress.

Sam shook her head. "Clockwork's prescient. He can see the future, the present, the past. That means it's almost impossible to surprise him. Combined with his power, that prescience makes him almost invincible."

The other human was beginning to understand. "So whatever got him is…."

"_Nasty._ Very, very nasty." She shuddered. "And if I'm right about who it is, he got off lightly."

Several nearby ghosts-the ones who understood English- blanched. Two fainted. "Pariah Dark?" whimpered one of the servants.

"No, not Pariah, but they're cut from the same cloth."

"So who is this all-powerful ghost?" demanded Maddie. Her hands clasped her belt where, in normal times, she would have had two or three ecto-guns.

There was no way that she was speaking Dan's name, especially not when Maddie was still adjusting to her son's identity. If she explained that the ghost was Danny's jerky future self from an aborted timeline…. Well, Danny could take her easily, but he'd feel guilty about it for years to come. Besides, it wasn't her secret to tell.

"His name isn't important. All you need to know is that he wants nothing more than to kill us all. _Especially _Danny." She forced a smile, knowing it looked sickly and afraid. "But it might be someone else, so let's wait until Clockwork wakes up before jumping to conclusions."

No one seemed very assured. Sam didn't blame them.

The seconds stretched into ages of agony. Sam resumed pacing, back and forth, back and forth, her slippers thumping against the stonework. Maddie glared at her empty weapons belt. Sharon and Pamela trembled. Their husbands tried to comfort them, but they were trembling too.

Finally, after an eternity of pained apprehension, Danni and Danny entered the room. One look at their faces told Sam everything she needed to know.

Then her boyfriend opened his mouth and blew her preconceptions out of the water.

"It was the Observants. They sent the Ancients after him, all Thirteen." Danni repeated the information in Greek.

Horrified gasps echoed through the room. The _Observants?_ The _Observants_ had deliberately wounded their servant (some said slave) and sent him to Achaea? But why? They were the ruling council of the Ghost Zone; did that have something to do with it?

But Achaeans were rather more intelligent than Amity Parkers. Realization swept through the room: the Observants had grown used to their unimpeded reign, and a king would destroy their power. Clockwork was a close friend and powerful ally of aforementioned king.

His injuries were an act of war.

"There's more," Danny continued, ignoring the rampant whispers. "The Ancients went to the thermos and broke it. He's out." His voice quavered slightly on the last few words, an expression of nerves that didn't go unnoticed by anyone. If Danny Fenton-Phantom, who had fought Pariah Dark himself and _won,_ was afraid of this unknown ghost…. They did not want to think about it.

Sam cursed, drawing glares from both her parents.

Danny met his mother's eyes. "Maddie, we need to use the Fenton lab to track down this ghost before he kills anyone." He bit his lip, hesitated. "Actually, it would be better if I went alone. You and the other humans will be safer here with Pandora- this ghost knows about FentonWorks, but he doesn't know about my friends in Achaea."

"You want us to stay here?" cried Pamela, disentangling herself from Jeremy's arms. "Absolutely not!"

Danny flinched. "It might be dangerous," he warned.

The human woman snorted, an uncharacteristically unladylike action. "And this place isn't?"

"Well," the hybrid sighed, "you're not my captives, but I wish you'd reconsider."

For a second, Pamela hesitated. He just looked so genuine, so earnest, staring at her with those big blue eyes of his. Then she hardened herself. "I'm going home."

The trip to FentonWorks was silent. Everyone was acutely conscious of Dash, the one who wasn't there. Danny stared out the window, silent, thinking hard. When would Dan attack? Where? How could he win?

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Maddie's weapon until it was far, far too late.


	15. Impossible Solution

Everything from this point onward is mine. Shamrock's story ended with the trio hiding in a janitor's closet trying to figure out what to do. I skipped that scene because it was unnecessary. Jazz already has a solution.

* * *

><p>"Danny? <em>Danny!<em>"

"Don't worry, Jazzy." Maddie's voice was strangely placid, quivering with unnatural calmness. "He'll be fine. I just took Phantom out of him, that's all. Now all we have to do is rescue Jack from those awful ghosts and we can be one big happy human family again."

Sam's voice spat a word that wouldn't have sounded out of place in Walker's first prison.

"Now Sam," Maddie continued, far too cheerily, "that's just the brainwashing talking. Don't worry, though, it will wear off soon enough. In fact, I'll go get the decontamination gun now." Her footsteps retreated.

Danny's eyes snapped open. He jerked up in bed, ghost rings flashing around his waist. For a moment, it seemed that he could go ghost and escape- but then the rings fizzled out, leaving him human and confused.

"You're wearing the Specter Deflector," Jazz explained miserably. Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Danny. I tried to stop them, but then they shot me with this goop." She gestured down. Her legs and feet were covered in sticky green goo. "It wore off after a few hours, but she shot me again when I tried to get you away from her."

"Same here," Sam growled. "And my idiot parents let her. They left. They're probably trying to find me an eligible boyfriend right now." She scowled, clutching the finger which had once held the Ring of Rage. It was obvious to her fiancé that her parents had taken it.

Maddie burst into the room, hefting her husband's decontamination gun with the air of a professional. "Danny! You're awake! How wonderful; that awful ghost kept you unconscious for hours and hours while it fought the Specter Deflector."

So she'd lied. She hadn't thought he was Phantom; she'd just pretended to make him let his guard down. Sam was right. He was a stupid, too-trusting half-breed twit.

But that could change. It would be a long, long time before Maddie Fenton regained his trust.

She didn't need to know that, though.

Danny shifted into a meek, submissive posture. He looked almost like an overgrown child. "Thanks, Mommy," he whispered, lip quivering ever so slightly. "You saved me. I thought Phantom would have my soul forever, but you saved me." He thought of what had happened to Clockwork, what might be happening even now in Achaea, and blinked a single tear from his eye. "But you saved me. Thanks, Mommy. I love you."

It was a performance worthy of the Oscars. Maddie bought it hook, line, and sinker.

"That's right!" Jazz exclaimed, improvising a wildly improbable tale that she knew her mother would believe. "Phantom surged out of him in a… a _dark cloud_ of _malevolence!_ And then the brainwashing wore off on Sam and me, so you saved us too."

"What she said," Sam agreed. "Will you let us go now?"

Maddie beamed at them. "That's wonderful!"

"Since he's gone, can I take the Specter Deflector off now?" Danny asked sweetly.

"Of course not! Phantom's still at large. Until I torture him into oblivion, you need to keep it on. Now go to school. You'll be late otherwise. Bye, sweeties!" She disintegrated the goo holding Sam and Jazz hostage.

Danny was even paler than normal as they exited FentonWorks. "What are we going to do?" he hissed. "Dan is loose, I'm powerless, Tucker doesn't know anything, Jack is in the hospital, the Ring of Rage is missing-"

"That's _it!"_ Jazz's shriek of triumph drew attention from several concerned pedestrians. The redhead blushed, lowered her voice. "The Specter Deflector can only negate so much power, right?"

"Well, Dan did tear it off in our big battle," Danny admitted, not knowing where she was going with this.

"I know. If they hadn't improved the design and power so much since then, you'd probably be able to tear this one off right now. But this one was designed specifically for your power levels. You need _more._" She bared her teeth in something that might have been a smile. "The Ring of Rage enhances a ghost's powers. If you get it back and put it on, you can escape."

"There's just one problem with that," Sam pointed out. "The Ring of Rage only works with the Crown of Fire. The Crown has been missing for years."

"I'll bet you anything that Vlad has it," Danny muttered. "He took it after my battle with Pariah, and I'll bet you anything it's in that secret lab in his basement."

"You're right," Jazz agreed. "Vlad's the sort of person to keep those things close to him."

"Danny and I can get the Ring of Rage," Sam decided. "It's at my place; my parents are the ones who took it. Can you and Tucker get the Crown of Fire?"

"Of course," her future sister-in-law promised. "You guys should meet us at Plasmius's portal. That's close to Pandora's place, right?"

Danny nodded. "And Vlad probably had some kind of method for tracking powerful ghosts even in the Ghost Zone. Have Tucker get that up and running; see if you can find Dan."

No further words were necessary. The halfa, his sister, and his girlfriend separated, praying they weren't already too late.

* * *

><p>Danni stood on one of the towers, gazing out into the green vastness of the Ghost Zone.<p>

Where was Danny? Her brother had left hours ago. He should have been back by now.

She was afraid, more afraid than she'd ever been. Not even the possibility of dissolving into goop had frightened her so much.

She shouldn't have let Danny go by himself. He was a formidable warrior, fierce and deadly… but far, far too trusting. She'd swallowed her doubts about Maddie, but it looked as though they'd been proven right in the worst way possible. If she'd captured him, he would be helpless when Dan arrived.

The other possibility- that the future ghost had already found him- was, surprisingly, a bit less worrisome. Danny knew better than to trust his alternate self, and she doubted that Dan could sneak up on him. Besides, her brother was far more powerful than he gave himself credit for. He'd defeated the King of All Ghosts at age fourteen, and his power had grown hundredfold since then. Besides, he could always summon the skeleton army- wouldn't _that _be a nasty shock for the snake-tongued freak!

"Princess?"

She turned, face masked with emotionless unconcern. "I've told you, Patroclus, you don't have to call me that. You are my betrothed's best friend, and that makes you my friend as well."

The Greek ghost nodded. He had been a peasant in life, a soldier in the Trojan War whose talent and loyalty had attracted Achilles's attention. In death and in life they'd been inseparable, questing on countless adventures and saving each other's afterlives more times than either could count. "Sorry, Danni. It's the stress…. Things have gotten worse."

Cold dread snaked through her stomach. She flashed into ghost form. "What happened?"

"It's the Observants," he said quietly. "They're at the gate."

Danni smiled. She'd been hoping they would come. "Listen up. I have a plan…."

* * *

><p>Tucker loathed being left out of things, and he'd been left out a lot lately.<p>

First he'd been left behind when Sam and Danny vanished into the Ghost Zone. He'd learned about their adventures through thought-contact with the young halfa, but it wasn't the same as being there and helping out. Years of fighting ghosts at the hero's side had instilled in him a sense of responsibility- and a sense of guilt when couldn't offer assistance. And if _that_ hadn't been bad enough, his best friend had apparently been captured and hurt by his own mother while an enemy bent on killing them all was on the loose.

"Is that all?" he asked sarcastically.

"All?" repeated Jazz, taking her eyes off the road to glare at him. "Mom's gone nuts, Dad's in the hospital, Dan's loose, Danny's powerless, and we have to find two ghost artifacts of incredible power in the next couple hours or everyone in Amity Park will die! I would hope that's _all,_ because it's more than enough for me!"

"Semi!" the techno-geek shrieked. Jazz shrieked, jerking the wheel as far to the right as she could. Fortunately, she'd inherited Jack's gift of not crashing despite reckless driving, and they managed to avoid rolling into a ditch.

"Can you get me past Vlad's security system?" she demanded. This time she kept her eyes on the asphalt.

"Yeah, but not until we're actually in the building."

"Good."

Tucker nodded, uncharacteristically grim. "Yeah, but will it be good _enough_?"

* * *

><p>"Where is it!" Sam screamed, throwing aside a pillow.<p>

Any observer would have been justified in thinking that a tornado had torn through Jeremy and Pamela Manson's bedroom. Their drawers had been ripped from dressers, the contents ransacked. The bed sheets had been torn off and shaken frantically. The mattress itself had been overturned, the pillows squished, the closet doors torn open to reveal an equally devastated interior. Jewelry was strewn all over the destruction, gems and pearls glittering in the sunlight.

"It's obviously not here!" Danny snapped. Even with the belt's influence, his eyes blazed ghostly green. "But what worries me is _where are they?_ Someone should have heard us and come to investigate!" He slammed a fist into the wall, knocking a hole into the previously solid structure.

The blow cooled his rage, let him think more rationally. "There are always butlers and things here, right?" he asked.

Sam nodded, dread pooling in her stomach. "Yeah. There's always someone here. I've never been home completely alone before." She began to feel sick. "You don't think…."

"I don't know what to think," her boyfriend whispered, "but if you're right, we need the ring more than ever. Where could it be?"

Sam chewed her lip. "I doubt it's with them," she mumbled, thinking out loud. "My mom thinks it's creepy, and she always gets creepy things out of sight, out of mind. But she has to know that I'd look for it when I got back, so it's somewhere I'd never think to look…." Her head snapped up. "It's in my closet."

Danny blinked. "Um, Sam? No offense, but that doesn't sound like a place you'd never think to look."

The Goth girl tore out of the room. "Not the one I actually use, the one where Mom keeps all those disgusting pink monstrosities she wants me to wear. There's a jewelry box filled with pearls and rose quartz and gem-studded sunglasses and stuff. I bet that's where she put it."

Her boyfriend had never really paid attention to the extra door leading off from her room. He'd always assumed it was a private bathroom which he, not wanting to chance upon something embarrassing, had never used. He followed her, jogging lightly to keep up.

Sam was in such a rush to reach her closet that she didn't even glance at her room. Danny, who had been trained by many ambushes (including the most recent one Maddie had sprung on him) to _always_ inspect his surroundings, no matter how friendly they may be, froze. His breath quickened. "This is not good."

"What're you talking about?" his girlfriend hollered. "I've found it!" She jogged out of the room, brandishing the ring triumphantly. Then she saw what Danny had noticed and blanched.

A DP symbol, black and ugly as its maker's heart, was branded into the wall. Dan Phantom had been there, and, judging by the emptiness of the house, he had taken the two elder Mansons.

"No," whispered Sam. Her arms fell limply to her side.

"I'm sorry," Danny whispered, pulling her close. His girlfriend and her family had never been close, but….

The lovebirds were so lost in their grief and shock that they didn't hear the police sirens until it was too late.

* * *

><p>Oh no! They're gonna get arrested and Sam's parents (among others) have been kidnapped. Things are very bad right now.<p>

-Corona


	16. Interference from the Law

In hindsight, they really shouldn't have been surprised by the policemen's presence. Jeremy and Pamela were very important, very influential. They couldn't go missing for long without someone noticing.

Plus, they had a bunch of servants to serve as witnesses.

The lovebirds weren't accused of anything. Sam had every right to be in her own home, even after her long absence, and she vouched for Danny. But innocent or not, they had still entered a crime scene. The officers had to interview them to learn if they had seen anything that might help crack the case.

The ride to the station was dull and silent. Once there, a kind-faced investigator asked what two teenagers were doing at the crime scene. They didn't answer, so he tried a simpler tactic. "What are your names?"

"Sam Manson," the girl managed. "That was my house." A spark of her usual fire ignited. "I came home and found my parents kidnapped, and now you're interrogating me? You should be helping, not harassing me and my fiancé!" Her voice rose in the last few words, almost reaching a scream. "Let us go!"

"I'm sorry," he sighed, and he seemed genuinely regretful, "but I can't let you do that. We have to question you, then we'll release you to your boyfriend's- sorry, fiancé's- parents."

Danny's face went white. Sam shuddered, looked ready to vomit. Neither wanted to return to Maddie's tender mercies.

Their reactions did not go unnoticed. "What's wrong?" the policeman demanded.

"My mom's insane," Danny blurted. "You can't send me back to her. She thinks I'm Danny Phantom, and she _hates_ Danny Phantom. She's Maddie Fenton, you see- you know, the wacky ghost hunter who blows up dozens of buildings each year but mysteriously escapes arrest? I mean, she's always been nuts, but now that she thinks I'm Phantom, she wants to- I've been hearing about all the awful things she wants to do to him for years now, and I really don't want to experience any of them."

Perhaps it was Maddie's reputation. Perhaps it was the genuine fear in Danny's voice. Perhaps it was the simple fact that he was telling the truth. Whatever the reason, the policeman believed him. His face darkened like the sky at twilight. "Do you have any more witnesses? I'd like to see this woman behind bars as soon as possible."

"Jazz," breathed Sam. "Danny's sister. Maddie covered her in goo earlier today for helping 'Phantom.' And," she added in a sudden burst of inspiration, "she put this belt thing on Danny that will supposedly suppress Phantom's powers. It zaps him every once in a while to keep him from using his 'malevolent abilities of darkness.'" She snorted. "Don't suppose you could get it off him, huh?"

He scowled. "If that's ghost-hunting technology, I don't stand a snowball's chance."

Well, it was worth a try.

"I can bring you to Jazz," Danny said quickly. "She went to Mayor Masters' house."

"He's missing too," the officer commented. "Some of the boys are thinking the cases are connected." Which they were, but not in the way they thought. "What's your sister doing there?"

"Looking for clues," the halfa replied. "She's a genius who reads too many detective stories. She thinks she can find something." He pretended to hesitate. "Could you bring me and Sam with you? She might freak out if a cop comes by, you know, think you're there to arrest her for tampering with an investigation site or something. And she knows Uncle Vlad's place like the back of her hand. She could hide for a long time unless she saw me."

"It's highly irregular…."

"Please." Desperation leaked into his tone.

Officer Jonah Walkingstick was no fool. He knew that these two teens understood more than they let on. He also understood that child abuse was foul, its perpetrators should be imprisoned, and that arresting Maddie Fenton would go a long way towards gaining Sam and Danny's trust- and any information they might be keeping to themselves.

It was a classic case of killing two birds with one stone: incriminate the crazy Fenton woman and probably her husband _and_ gain the trust of two key witnesses, a trust he would need to extract their secrets.

So what if it was highly irregular? It would accomplish a lot more than sitting in his office trying to pry information from their closed mouths. Even if their information was totally worthless, at least he'd have the satisfaction of closing another case.

Besides, he loathed child abusers. He had ever since his began beating him with a belt, thirty-five years ago.

* * *

><p>The police were long gone, but Jazz and Tucker kept to the shadows as the techno-geek frantically hacked into the Masters Mansion's security system. His glasses glinted, reflecting the cool light of the monitors.<p>

"Okay, I'm done. And I got some blueprints, too."

"I already knew where the lab is, but thanks anyways. It might not be there." She jogged away. Danny hadn't been lying when he said she knew Vlad's house like the back of her hand. She'd broken into his lab before, usually while Danny was upstairs keeping Vlad and their parents busy. The elder halfa had never noticed Jazz's absence. She was only human, and in his mind human equaled harmless.

"I undid all the electronic locks in his lab," Tucker continued, "but if there's anything mechanical, it'll still be closed." They normally relied on Danny to pick locks, but they didn't have his ghost powers now. He made a mental note to learn things like hot-wiring and lock-picking in the near future, preferably before another situation like this came up.

They began with his safes, which fortunately were all electronically locked. They found several items of dubious legality, but no flaming green ghost crowns. "Leave those out," Jazz suggested. "If the police ever find this place, they deserve to find some goodies. Besides, we don't have time to clean."

It was true, too true. They were both agonizingly aware of the time limit. Each ticking second that passed was another second for Dan to grow stronger, to strategize and scheme. Danny was in danger; the _worlds_ were in danger. They couldn't afford to waste even a moment.

Jazz thought quickly. It didn't look as though the crown was there, but they couldn't afford to take any chances. "Stay here," she ordered Tucker. "I'm going to search his bedroom. Knowing Vlad, that's the second most likely place he'd put it. He'd want to gloat."

"Good idea," Tucker agreed. "Call me if you need any electronic stuff disabled."

"Roger." The redhead charged away. An unpleasant thought filled her mind. Danny frequently hid things _in_ the wall, reasoning that his human parents would never find them without tearing down the house. What if Vlad did the same thing?

She ransacked his drawers first, noting with disgust that several of his underwear featured Maddie's face. There were even a pair or two with Danny's forms, Fenton and Phantom. Oh, _ew._ Tucker had been right: he _had _wanted Danny as more than an apprentice.

She really should have let Tucker take this job. Twenty-year-old women did not need to go pillaging fortysomething men's underwear drawers.

This was getting her nowhere. Use psychology, girl. Think! Vlad likes feeling powerful, in control, _above_ everything. Where could he put the Crown of Fire that would indulge these characteristics?

The answer was obvious, though so blindingly juvenile it made her pull up short. There was no possible way it was under his bed.

But it was.

He had literally placed the Crown of Fire beneath him, symbolically declaring his mastery over the ancient ghost artifact. In a way, though, hiding it there had acknowledged that it wasn't his to have; beds often hid things that shouldn't be there. Then another thought occurred to her, and she stared at the green headpiece with a slightly open mouth. He'd put a flaming crown under his bed. Why had his house not burned down?

But she had bigger fish to fry than fire safety. The redhead whipped out her phone, pressed speed dial three. "Tucker? Get up here. I've found it."

* * *

><p>Danielle stalked through the hallways of Achaea. She was dressed all in black and white, the royal colors of the Ghost Zone, and a hint of the gold which represented Achaean nobility. Twin swords hung from her hips, simple, utilitarian blades that could cut through diamond. Every inch of her was a warrior princess, a warrior princess on a mission.<p>

"Oh, good," one of the Observants sneered, "the cl-"

Danni fired a single green blast. It wasn't an ecto-blast and was therefore harmless, but the sticky substance she'd shot at it sealed its hidden mouth shut, covering its narrowed eye in the process. "You," she snarled, voice icy as Frostbite's realm, "are all under arrest on charges of conspiring against the High King and his family, injuring a faithful servant of the realm, releasing a prisoner nearly as powerful as Pariah Dark, and invading the territory of the sovereign nation of Achaea. _That_ is known as high treason. The punishment is _not_ pretty. Unless you wish to spend the next ten thousand years in the dungeons of J'Waar, you will give my brother full custody of the Thirteen Ancients until the prisoner is recaptured." She punctuated her ultimatum by drawing her swords.

The gray-robed Ancients lifted their spectral hands. Colorless light built on their fingers… but they never fired.

Clockwork's face was drawn in concentration as he faded into visibility. Keeping the Ancients frozen in time took all his strength, all his skill, and he could only do it because he had caught them off-guard. Even now, surprised as they were, he felt them struggling. But the time ghost didn't have to wait long. He nodded, a signal to his very unusual ally.

The Red Huntress and twelve ghosts uncapped thirteen Fenton thermoses. Brilliance blazed from their depths, encasing the petrified constructs and dragging them inside. As they were pulled into the thermoses' depths, Danni loosed thirteen powerful ecto-blasts, each capable of destroying entire skyscrapers. Hopefully, even if they did escape, they'd be too injured to do much damage.

The Observants watched in mute horror as their most powerful, deadly servants were defeated. They could have attacked Clockwork, destroying his concentration and allowing at least one Ancient to escape, but over the centuries they'd grown used to their deadly constructs' services. It had been a long, long time since any Observant lifted a finger to defend itself. They were shocked, paralyzed by disbelieving horror.

But Danni knew better than to think this would last long. "Keep them in my range!" she shrieked, charging forward. Her brother's thralls appeared, herding the stunned councilors together.

Danni let loose the Ghostly Wail.

The Achaeans had heard of the deadly attack, but none had ever witnessed it save Achilles and Patroclus (and Dash, many years ago). And as they watched the wave of sound tear through the Observants, the buildings behind them, the ground under their robes, the citizens were heartily glad that Daniel and Danielle Fenton-Phantom were on their side.

The Observants were obliterated. By the time the halfa princess had finished with them, they were sprawled broken and bleeding over the torn earth, unable even to moan pathetically as Valerie, her entire body shaking, sucked them up into another Fenton thermos. Any lingering doubts she'd had to the Phantoms' morality were thoroughly quashed. _Anyone_ capable of that much destruction had no need of subterfuge to annihilate Amity Park- or even the entire continent.

Danni sagged. Only her twin swords kept her on her feet. Her fiancée floated out, laid a hesitant hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded, forced herself to her feet. "I'll be fine," the halfa rasped, vocal cords strained and broken from the deadly scream. "But I won't have any more energy to help Danny fight." She staggered, grabbing onto her love's arm for support. Her voice grew louder. These words were addressed to the stunned crowds. "Get healers for Lord Clockwork. Find someplace to put the thermoses. Guard them well. I don't think the Ancients will try to escape- they have no orders to do so- but I want a warning if they actually do."

Legends said that when the Observants weren't there to command them, the Ancients would obey the ghost king. That had caused several problems back when Pariah was monarch- he'd often sent them on missions of destruction. Mindless and incapable of disobeying, they'd laid waste to much of the Ghost Zone before the Observants retrieved them.

Perhaps, if things had been less desperate, she would have flown to Amity Park and given them to Danny. But she couldn't risk them attacking him so soon before his fight with Dan.

_I'm sorry, Danny,_ she thought, stumbling again, _but there's nothing more I can do. I gave everything I have to disable this threat. I'm so, so sorry, but you'll have to fight Dan on your own._

Dark spots danced in her vision. Why had she put so much energy into that Wail, into those blasts? She should have held back so she could help her brother, her twin.

But no, she realized, sliding into blissful blackness, she didn't need to. Danny was strong and brave and skilled enough to fight Dan on his own.

* * *

><p>I figured, Danni needed some time to shine. So I had her take care of the Observants, partially because they didn't know Danny was in Amity and partly because the poor guy deserves a break. There was no way he was fighting Dan <em>and<em> the Thirteen Ancients. The fight scene was rushed because it HAD to be. Danni only defeated the Ancients because she took them by surprise- they weren't used to people standing up to them. If the fight hadn't been fast, she would have gotten her butt kicked.

The last few chapters of _Backpack _are on my computer. I have to look over them and do some editing stuff, but this story should be finished before the month is over. Hooray!

-Corona


	17. Summoned

It was pathetically easy to slip away from Officer Walkingstick, even without his ghost powers. He just waited until the man turned his back, then grabbed Sam's arm and opened the secret passage. They had darted through without any trouble.

The lovebirds met Tucker halfway down the stairs. Actually, it was more like they ran into each other- literally. Vlad's stairs were a tightly wound spiral, designed to take up as little space as possible. They hadn't seen Tucker until their momentum was too great to stop. With a dull thud, the three friends fell.

After a few seconds of thrashing limbs and confusion, the three finally sorted themselves out. Then they ruined the harmony by attempting to speak at the same time. Their words sounded something like "Jazz Ring found under kidnapped bed." Once again, the trio pulled up short.

"We have to be quiet," Danny told him. "There's a policeman up there looking for us."

Tucker blinked. "A cop? What did you two _do_?"

"We went to my house, found the Ring, discovered that Dan had kidnapped my parents, and were captured by police officers who had come to investigate their disappearance." Sam clenched her fists. The skin over her knuckles stretched to whiteness. She might be mad at her parents, but they were still her parents.

"Oh." Tucker didn't ask for more details; he had more important things to worry about. "Jazz found the Crown of Fire in Vlad's room. I thought she'd called you, so that's why I didn't call."

"She found it?" gasped Danny.

"She found it," Tucker confirmed. "Now all we have to do is get to it."

The halfa blanched. "Were you meeting her somewhere the officer could find her, or is she still in Vlad's room?"

"Still in Vlad's room," the techno-geek assured him.

Danny spat a curse. If he'd had his powers, he could have just flown up without encountering Walkingstick, who was undoubtedly poking around upstairs to try and find them.

"Let's go!" Sam yelled. The Goth girl was already halfway up the stairs. She paused in mid-step to glare at them. "What are you waiting for? Walkingstick wants to find Jazz, too."

Her boyfriend opened his mouth to protest… and realized that she was right. His secret _didn't matter anymore_. He would never have to worry about it again.

"All we have to do is get to Jazz so Danny can put on the Ring and Crown," Tucker breathed. "Then we're all set!" He laughed. "Dude, you could even tell Walkingstick the truth. Not noticing that your kid has been half-dead for _years_ has _got_ to count as child neglect!"

Danny's smile threatened to split his face. "I already told him they're abusive, but this just adds fuel to the fire." He darted up the staircase, followed closely by his loyal friend.

Jazz had already stumbled into Officer Walkingstick, who apparently believed that she was looting and that the obviously ghostly headpiece should be given to the Guys in White. The redhead was almost in tears, swearing that the Crown of Fire belonged to her brother, not to Vlad- which it did.

"Jazz!" yelled the brother as he skidded to a halt.

Her face lit up. "Did you find the Ring?"

"Did we ever!" he laughed, brandishing his hand. The Ring of Rage seemed to glow with greenish light.

"What's going on here?" demanded the policeman.

Jazz blanched. A thousand lies rose to her mouth, a hundred plausible or implausible explanations that didn't involve her brother's ghost powers.

Danny beat her to it. "I'll show you," he proclaimed. To his sister, he explained, "I already went and told a bunch of people. The secret's out, Jazz. I don't' have to hide ever again." His smile threatened to split his face.

His sister smiled back. "Go for it," she whispered, and handed the Crown of Fire to the High King of All Ghosts.

The Lord of the Underworld gazed down at the flaming crown for an infinite moment. _That much power… it's a burden, isn't it._

_No. The burden is in how you use it. And I will use it well. _

He placed the crown on his head.

Nothing happened. The smiles slid from the teens' faces. Even Walkingstick, who had no idea what was going on or that anything was supposed to happen, couldn't help but feel depressed.

Then the Specter Deflector shattered. Shrapnel exploded in all directions. Electricity sparked, leaping from piece to piece. The policeman yelled, shoving the youths to the ground before hitting the floor himself. Even then, though, he was unable to look away.

Team Phantom rose to their feet, grinning wildly as the last vestiges of the Specter Deflector fell to the floor. Danny, eyes closed, beaming with an inner light, spread his arms. A lightning-bright ring materialized at his waist, split, expanded.

Black tunic, gray sword-belt. Famous logo blazing white across his chest. Fingerless gloves, black pants and combat boots. Yet it wasn't the standard Danny Phantom uniform that appeared in Halloween costumes and action figures. This was different.

The green zippers dotting his pants had vanished, giving his outfit a more formal, medieval look. A sable cloak, lined with white, flowed from his shoulders. The infamous DP was displayed proudly across its exterior. The collar of his skin-tight white undershirt was higher, swooping up around his neck. The Crown of Fire on his head had turned snowy white, surrounded by multicolored flames. The Ring of Rage's skull had been replaced by the mark of the new king, the design created for him by his future queen.

And Phantom himself was different: his hair, normally as white as the crown, was half-ink and half-snow. His locks alternated in color: pale here, dark here. His eyes, when he opened them, had blue and teal and green shafts radiating from the pupils.

Daniel Fenton-Phantom, King of All Ghosts, smiled triumphantly. "Look who's back and better than ever!"

* * *

><p>Paullina had long ago run out of tears.<p>

This was not the way things were supposed to happen. Her ghost boy wasn't supposed to propose to that loser Manson. He was supposed to be hers, no one else's. He was supposed to save her!

"About time you shut up," sneered the reason she needed saving, a cruel parody of her beloved. He bore Phantom's logo and shared his voice- there was even a slight physical resemblance- but the two specters had nothing else in common. This ghost's skin was sickly blue-green, his hair infernal white flames. He was muscular, obscenely so, but the bulk did nothing to improve his appearance. It was obvious from the way he held himself that he used those muscles to crush, not to defend.

Paullina hiccupped. "Let me go," she whined. Why hadn't she stayed in the Ghost Zone? She could have convinced the ghost boy to ditch that Goth freak, and she wouldn't be tied up and terrified right now. She should have stayed in the Ghost Zone.

"Let us all go!" yelled Jeremy Manson.

The spook pretended to consider. He smiled cruelly, revealing his pointed fangs. "No thanks."

The popular girl shattered. "Let me go!" she screamed. "I'll do anything. I'll tell you where the Goth girl is and the techno-nerd and the ghost boy! Just let me go!"

This time, the ghost's consideration was real.

"How dare you!" Pamela screamed. The socialite was red in the face, straining at her bonds. "You little-" She spat out several most un-ladylike words. "How _dare _you betray my Sammykins!"

"She was right about you," her husband snarled.

"Leave Tucker alone!" bellowed Maurice Foley. Blood dribbled from his mouth, a testament to how hard he'd fought against being captured. Though he had been taken, his efforts hadn't been in vain- his wife, Lola, had escaped. Unfortunately, she had escaped to FentonWorks to find help, and had been captured when the spook went to nab Maddie Fenton. The two women were currently unconscious; Maurice worried that they had concussions.

The ghost fired green goop from his hand, choking the protesting parents. Only Paullina and the two unconscious women were spared. "Start talking," he ordered, red eyes glaring into hers.

Paullina talked. She talked about how she knew that Danny was "the ghost boy" (much to the shock of Maurice Foley), how he and Sam were in the Ghost Zone with the former's twin sister and a scary four-armed ghost lady named Pandora. She chattered about how Tucker hadn't gone into the Ghost Zone with them and was, so far as she knew, still at Caspar High. Dan knew full well that he was not- he had gone to the school to nab the techno-geek. Unable to find him, he had grabbed Paullina before going after the Mansons. Tucker had gotten out just in time. Had he remained even a few minutes longer, he would have been captured.

"Pandora's Palace, huh?" Dan muttered, floating backwards. He wondered if Tucker and Jazz had joined them there. It would certainly explain why he couldn't find them. And who in the worlds was Danielle? His idiot younger self did _not_ have a twin sister, just an obnoxious older one.

He was vaguely aware that Achaea was one of the Borderlands, the small city-states which encircled the Barrens. However, he had no further knowledge of its whereabouts, and no desire to search for weeks until he found it. Best to go with his original plan, luring the fool Phantom to save his precious humans. He hadn't hidden himself when he swooped down to grab the foolish cheerleader; his description would reach Danny soon enough.

Even if the boy had abandoned his family to live in the Ghost Zone (and wasn't that a shocker?), he would come running at the mere mention of Dan's name. he was too much of a hero to let his dreaded future self run around, and becoming some kind of Achaean prince (how in the worlds had he accomplished that?) had doubtless only honed that self-sacrificing instinct.

And once he had Danny in his clutches, the boy would die. Dan had spent many long hours fantasizing about his alternate's death. It had made his imprisonment pass more quickly. First he would replicate every blow the halfa had landed during their fight: punches, kicks, flames, wail. Then he would let Danny watch as his precious friends and family (and Lancer, too, he supposed) died screaming. Then-

Spots danced before his eyes. He staggered in midair. The white flames on his head faltered, leaving him momentarily bald.

What… in the _name_… of Pariah Dark… was _that?_

It was like seeing the sun after being trapped in a dark room for years. It was like hearing a full-octave chord after many weeks of silence. It was like tasting the world's finest feast after nearly starving to death, like smelling spring flowers after a long winter, like a friend's arms wrapping around the loneliest man on earth. It was powerful as a star, inescapable as a black hole.

His ghost sense went off, plumes of red smoke billowing from his nostrils. It went on and on, screaming that a ghost with more raw power than Pariah Dark himself had just let down its shields.

It rolled over Dan like a tsunami. He retched, fell to his knees. What kind of ghost _was _this?

For the first time in fourteen years, the monstrosity known as Dan Phantom was afraid. This creature had more power than him; it could crush him like he had crushed so many other ghosts.

Suddenly it seemed like a very bad idea to draw attention to himself. Danny's annihilation could wait until this immensely powerful being was somewhere else.

Or…

… He didn't know who this was. Perhaps the source of the power could be convinced to help him out, or at the very least to turn a blind eye. Dan knew he couldn't defeat it, but he could certainly injure it before it destroyed him.

Then the ghost spoke, and his hopes crumbled to dust.

"_Come out, you snake-tongued monster, you killer of babies and children! Come and face me, abomination, anathema to ghosts and mortals! Come fight Pariah's Bane, who has fought evils more powerful than you and won! Come out, you foul and vile thing, you insult to my name! Come out and fight Danny Phantom!" _

Dan pushed himself off his knees. His younger self's words echoed in his skull. _Come, come, come…._

To his horror, the specter found himself unable to disobey. He was drawn irrevocably to the source of that power, to his own doom. And horror of horrors, he could not disobey.

Dan didn't know that his younger self was the High King of All Ghosts. He didn't know that the title came with certain gifts- command over the army of thralls, an almost-psychic link with the very fabric of the Ghost Zone, and, occasionally, the ability to force ghosts to do his bidding.

Pariah Dark had lost many of those powers. He had forfeit them for his own greed and ambition, his lust for more control over his subjects. Had had not known that his evil had rendered him incapable of accessing the Ghost King's greatest gifts.

But Danny was not evil. He was more than capable of summoning Dan against his will.

The reverberations of his command echoed through the Ghost Zone: through Sidney Poindexter's sepia school, through Walker's prison, through the ruins of Clockwork's Tower, through the Far Frozen and Achaea. Those who did not understand what had happened were terrified, fearing that Pariah was loose once more.

Those who did rejoiced.

Danielle's smile nearly split her face. Tears leaked from her eyes. Her father Clockwork, now almost recovered from his wounds, placed a hand on her shoulder. He, too, was smiling.

"Long reign the king."

* * *

><p>Danny's speech... okay, it was a bit OOC, but he's the king. He HAS to make speeches like that. Besides, it worked.<p>

Paullina is there because everyone wanted her to suffer. I hear and obey your commands, so I told Dan that he should probably kidnap Danny's one-time crush because he couldn't find anyone who actually mattered to him. He's kind of scraping at the bottom of the barrel, don't you think? But rest assured, Paullina shall not escape unscathed. Not after what she did this chapter.

-Corona


	18. Victory and Defeat

It was as though the Crown of Fire had burned away all his impurities. Danny wasn't afraid anymore. Power flooded his veins, power and the calm certainty that Dan couldn't stand against him.

For a brief, glorious moment, he could _feel_ the entire Ghost Zone. He sensed farmers in their field, warriors training, diplomats negotiating. He could feel the very air of the Land of the Dead.

He was vaguely aware of the awed, stunned humans beneath him. They seemed so much less real than the distant Underworld, but real they were. Tucker and Jazz and Sam… he was so lucky to have them. Insanely lucky.

He soared through the ceiling of Vlad's mansion, into the bright blue skies of Amity Park. Sun split the clouds, embracing him. But the light of the sun could not compete with the Crown of Fire.

The Ring of Rage whispered what he needed to do. It was eager to serve its new master, a lord other than Pariah Dark. Danny listened his voice and called for his enemy.

"_Come out, you snake-tongued monster, you killer of babies and children! Come and face me, abomination, anathema to ghosts and mortals! Come fight Pariah's Bane, who has fought evils more powerful than you and won! Come out, you foul and vile thing, you insult to my name! Come out and fight Danny Phantom!" _

_He will obey,_ the Ring of Rage assured him. No. It was the Ring of _Rejoicing,_ not Rage, for it had a new master, one without Pariah's shadowed heart, one who would make both the worlds rejoice.

Danny smiled. He knew the ring was right. All he had to do was wait, and Dan would come to him. He had no choice. No ghost could disobey the king, not when the king's demands were justified and righteous.

Dan came slowly, reluctantly. His red eyes were confused and- frightened? Good. He had every reason to be frightened. He took in the younger spirit's new appearance: Crown, Ring, hair, eyes, cloak. His eyes grew even wider. He knew what the Crown's new coloring meant.

"We can do this one of two ways," the halfa informed the ghost. "Either you tell me where they are and come into the thermos quietly, or I reduce you to a handful of subatomic particles and ask Clockwork to track them down. What's it gonna be?"

Green-and-teal-and-blue eyes bored into red.

Dan shot.

Danny dodged, fast and fluid as the wind. He fired a rapid series of ecto-blasts, but his alternate was fast. He too dodged. The ecto-blasts continued on, colliding with buildings and obliterating them.

The new king paled. The power granted to him by the Crown and Ring seemed so natural, he had forgotten that he had to reign it in. Otherwise, who knew what harm his new strength could cause?

He flew at Dan, faster than he'd ever flown before. The older ghost tried to dodge, but he was too slow. Danny, fists glowing with green fire, punched his sternum. The flame-haired spook went flying.

Punch, kick, kick again, ecto-blast. This was beginning to feel like a decidedly one-sided fight.

The future ghost seemed to recover from the shock of his younger self's new abilities. He unleashed a Ghostly Wail into Danny's face. The halfa hadn't expected it, so he was unable to dodge.

Pain exploded along his nerve endings. Waves of sound dug into his face, his throat, his shoulders. The delicate bones of his inner shattered, only to be repaired seconds later by the all-consuming power of the Ring and Crown.

The awful sound was heard all through Amity Park. Car alarms blared to life, adding to the cacophonous barking of terrified dogs and the yowls of cats. Thousands of heads turned to the source of the noise, the two warring Phantoms.

Danny retorted with his own Wail, a scream supported by the full might of the king's regalia. It ricocheted off his enemy's attack, deflecting the deadly waves of sound, before overpowering it entirely. Dan dove.

Normally a warrior seeks the high ground. It provides immeasurable advantages: extra strength to one's blows, better access to the neck and face, more momentum when charging an opponent and less momentum when the opponent was charging you. But the two Phantoms were not normal enemies. Dan knew that Danny wanted to keep property damage to a minimum. If he remained beneath the younger spirit, the young king would hold back.

He duplicated into four snake-tongued specters. His opponent split into two, four, eight, sixteen. He smirked. "Cool. Didn't know I could do that."

Dan's blue-green face turned a sickly shade of gray.

He had been wrong. He had gravely underestimated his younger self. Danny was simply too powerful, too inhumanly powerful, to defeat.

And he knew that he would die that day.

But corrupted as he was, he was still part Phantom. He had retained Danny's ability to keep going against impossible odds. He had also inherited Vlad's spitefulness. He would die that day, but he would not let Danny escape unscathed.

He went invisible and fled. His three kamikaze duplicates attacked Danny's small army of sixteen. They were pulverized, of course, but they brought their master precious seconds. The halfa's sixteen selves merged back into one, and he chased after his future self.

But Dan had enough of a head start. He was close, so close, to where he had sequestered the captives.

He blasted. The ecto-energy spraying from his hands contained all his power, all his helpless rage. It drained him, and he staggered in midair. Danny's attack caught him half a second later.

Dan Phantom was no more.

The hybrid stared in mute amazement at the place where his alternate had been floating. Dan was more than dead, he was annihilated on the most complete level possible. And Danny had been the one to do it.

Nausea boiled in his stomach. He doubled over, retched, spat bile onto the distant ground. Flames between, he had killed. He had destroyed someone…

…and he didn't regret it. Brilliant shining flames, _he didn't regret it._ He certainly grieved that it had been necessary, but he did not regret the act itself. Dan had been a rabid dog; he had _had _to put him down.

And he knew that he would have to do it again. There would be other Dans, and it was his duty as King of All Ghosts to destroy them before they hurt someone whose existence was actually worth something.

Then Dan's dying blast connected with an innocuous building that had been marked for demolition several days ago. The dilapidated warehouse exploded. Screams echoed from within in.

Danny's heart went cold. He had found the hostages.

He dove towards the burning building, ice pluming from his hands. The fires died, but the building kept collapsing. The screams were louder now, more afraid.

Danny grabbed the first human form he saw and pulled out… not Jeremy or Pamela Manson, but Paullina Sanchez. Her face had been sliced open by falling debris. Half her nose had been cut off, and her lips had been split open. Blood gushed from the injuries. He knew that those scars would remain with her for the rest of her life- assuming she survived.

The halfa duplicated again. Sixteen Phantoms scoured the wreckage, shouting at everyone to keep speaking. He was coming, he would save them.

The Mansons, pale and stunned, their fancy clothing dusty and torn and stained with blood. The Foleys, bruised all over, Maurice favoring his right leg, who clung each other in a desperate embrace, whispering their thanks to their rescuer. And Maddie Fenton, who kicked and screamed threats, who loathed Phantom even more than she feared Dan.

The hybrid's face twitched. He really did not have time for this. He had to tell Sam and Tucker and Jazz (and poor Officer Walkingstick, who had probably had a heart attack when he saw him transform) that he wasn't dead. He had to get back to Achaea and take care of the Observants.

He overshadowed her. Maddie's eyes flared green. Danny accessed the part of her brain responsible for sleep and wakefulness. He applied a slight mental pressure, and the woman collapsed in a faint. He phased out of her body, slung it over his shoulder, and announced, "I'm going to fly you all to the hospital now, all right?"

"Is Sammykins okay?" Pamela's voice was little more than a hoarse whisper. She recognized him, despite his multihued eyes and striped hair. She would never be fooled by a simple change of coloration ever again. That, and the logo was a dead giveaway.

Danny nodded. She gulped, nodded back. She met her husband's eyes. Jeremy nodded. The socialite's jaw tightened. "Your engagement ring is in Sammy- _Sam's_ closet."

"We're sorry," the other Manson added.

Neither Foley had any idea what was going on. All they knew was that they were hurt and tired and frightened and confused. "There's a ghost," Maurice choked out, stroking his wife's back. "An awful ghost. It-" He swallowed.

"He's gone," Danny told them softly. "He'll never hurt anyone again. Come on." He held out his hand. "I have to bring you to the hospital, get you treated for shock. And then I'll bring Tucker and Sam. I think that your families should be together now." He didn't look at Maddie, who should have been family but wasn't.

The receptionist at Amity General was more than a little surprised to see six stripe-haired Danny Phantoms carrying two stunned couples and two unconscious women, one of whom was a ghost hunter, into the hospital.

Paullina had priority, of course. She was one of the only ones who was unconscious, and she had bled the most. Danny provided her name and flew off to fetch his comrades. Behind him, the receptionist dialed a phone, undoubtedly to contact Paullina's parents.

Danny glanced at the other parents. They didn't seem too badly injured, just shocked and scared. He didn't blame them.

The hybrid took flight, legs fusing into a tail, and returned to Vlad's mansion.

Walkingstick was slumped against the wall, face gray and frozen with shock. His eyes bulged when he saw Danny Phantom phase through the ceiling and revert to his human form.

"I'm sorry about lying to you," the hybrid said quietly, "but I had to get that crown. Maddie bound my powers; only the Crown of Fire could free me."

"You can explain later," Sam snapped. "Danny, what happened?"

He looked away. "I had to destroy him," he whispered. "And Ancients help me, I would destroy him again. He had to be put down."

His fiancée was silent.

"I'm proud of you, little brother," Jazz whispered, resting her hand on his shoulder. "It can't have been an easy choice."

"But it was the right one," Tucker finished for her.

Walkingstick recovered his ability to speak. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?"

Danny's mouth opened and closed several times. How in the worlds _could _he explain this? Where should he even begin?

Surprisingly, it was Tucker who came to his rescue. "To make a long, long story short, his mother found out about him being Phantom, freaked out, and locked him in something that shorted out his powers. The problem was that there was this really nasty, evil, and creepy ghost running around. He kidnapped Sam's parents, which these two discovered when they went to find something else that would help Danny use his powers again. That's when you took them away for questioning. Meanwhile Jazz and I found the other thing that would help him get his powers back, and Danny and Sam tricked you into coming here so Danny could fight the ghost before anyone died. That's why he flew off so quickly, he had to be the hero."

Walkingstick rubbed his temples. "Okay. Okay. _Okay._" He swallowed. "It sounds like you won?"

Danny nodded. "But he had more hostages than just the Mansons. Tucker-"

"No!" the techno-geek yelled. The color drained from his face, leaving him almost as gray as Walkingstick had been.

"They're fine!" Danny interrupted, nipping his terror in the bud. "But I brought them to the hospital, just in case."

Tucker was absolutely terrified of hospitals, but he didn't hesitate. "Bring me there," he ordered.

"You coming too, Officer?" Danny rubbed the back of his neck, blushing. "Because I'd feel kind of bad about leaving you here."

The policeman nodded faintly. His eyes grew very wide as Danny went ghost again (truly ghost, with pure white hair and totally green eyes), duplicated, and flew them away.

"SAM!" screamed Pamela, charging towards her daughter. She grabbed the younger woman in a crushing hug. "You're okay. Oh, Sammy, I was so worried. That thing-" She shuddered. "I thought it would kill you." She kissed her daughter's head. "And you can't die, Sammy. You're getting married soon!"

The girl froze. "Wait. You're okay with that?"

Jeremy joined the group hug. "Of course we are, sweetie," he whispered. "We might not have been happy at first-" Sam snorted "-but now…." He nodded at Danny, who was still in Phantom form. "He's a good fit for you. You have my blessing."

The halfa's eyes filled with streaks of blue and teal. "Thank you, sir." He shifted back into human form, hair darkening to black and clothes altering to something more normal, but his eyes stayed the same.

"It's Jeremy," his future father-in-law corrected. "And my wife is Pamela."

Tucker's parents (and the receptionist, and everyone else in the waiting room) watched the proceedings with open mouths. Phantom was… _engaged?_ And apparently he was a master of disguise, as well.

"Danny?" whispered Lola. The hybrid shrugged, blushing. Lola blinked slowly. Then she cracked a smile and joked, "I'm more surprised that you actually got Tucker into the hospital."

"Don't remind me," her son muttered.

"Where's… Maddie?" Jazz wondered softly. "Has she been taken away already?"

The receptionist didn't respond. She was too busy gawking at Danny.

"Hello," the halfa's sister repeated, waving her hand in front of the other woman's eyes. The receptionist started. "I asked if Maddie Fenton had been taken away already?"

"What? Oh, oh yes. Yes she has." She took in Jazz's red hair, slender figure, and facial features. "Are you related?"

"She was my mother," the younger woman sighed.

* * *

><p>Because there's nothing that would torment Paullina more than losing her looks.<p>

One "chapter," really an epilogue, left. *sniffles* They grow up so fast!

-Corona


	19. Epilogue: Coronation

Except for a brief foray into Achaea to ascertain that everything was alright and pick up the Grays and another, briefer foray into ancient Thera to make sure Dash's little kingdom survived, Danny and his friends remained in the Human World for the rest of the week. They had many, many loose ends to tie up, and Danni was more than capable of handling the Ghost Zone by herself for a few days.

Maddie and Jack would be called to court as soon as the latter recovered from his injuries. Even if they hadn't shot at him, threatened to dissect him, created weapons for the sole purpose of destroying him, and informed him that he was a no-good lying piece of scum, they would have been arrested for what they had done to him and Jazz as children. Both siblings had gargled ectoplasm in their youth, and they had constantly been exposed to potentially deadly explosions. To put the final nail in the coffin, not noticing that one of your children had been _half-dead_ for four years HAD to count as child neglect.

When Maddie found out that she was being prosecuted for "doing her job," she snapped. It took almost all the hospital's security staff to restrain her. In the end, they were forced to dose her with enough tranquilizers to down a small elephant.

Walkingstick found the Fenton children an excellent lawyer- the daughter of the man who had convicted his own abusive mother. Her father had retired years ago, but he had left the family business in excellent hands. Violet Chae was even more competent than he had been, and prosecuting abusive parents was her specialty.

Since a great deal of the trial hinged on Danny's Phantom identity, and since he'd transformed in front of so many people already, he had Tucker organize a massive press conference in Caspar High's gym. "I'm not going to tell you how I got these powers," he told them bluntly after transforming between his two selves. "People will get ideas- and the people who get those ideas are the last ones who should get ghost powers."

After a brief summary of his half-life as a half-ghost, including explanations for his 'crimes,' and blowing Vlad's secret identity sky-high (Clockwork had thoughtfully provided footage that was compatible with human DVD players), he took questions. Most of them were rational- who else knew, are there any other ghost hybrids, what happened to Mayor Masters?- but a few of them were downright inappropriate. He was _not_ going to tell a bunch of complete strangers how far he and Sam had gotten- though he did throw in the fact that they were engaged.

The sound of fangirls' hearts breaking into thousands of tiny pieces echoed throughout the country.

He finished the conference with a very casual invitation to his coronation next month. Then, fighting back laughter as he soared through the ceiling, the hybrid made his escape.

"You really shouldn't have done that," Sam muttered. But she was smiling.

Goth or not, she had been smiling a lot more lately. Finally reconciling with her parents had done wonders for the usually gloomy girl's mood. The ring on her finger, silver and gold bands intertwined with a scintillating diamond in the center, was also a great help. The diamond had been carved in the shape of a skull, a permanent reminder of the Ring of Rage (now Rejoicing), her first engagement ring.

"We'd already been there an hour too long," her fiancé grumbled. "I'll schedule another conference later. I just wanted to get out of there."

The second conference centered on his defeat of Pariah Dark and its implications. No one could get over the fact that a local child, a known troublemaker, had become both a hero and the lord of an entire species. Quite a few people couldn't even believe that ghosts were organized or intelligent enough to even _have _a High King. They were quickly silenced by a quick demonstration of Danny's new thrall army.

News of his title spread throughout the Ghost Zone, stunning everyone who heard it. The Right of Conquest wasn't exactly common knowledge. Those who had known about it had thought that it couldn't apply to a mere halfa, despite what persistent whispered rumors claimed. But the Crown of Fire, Ring of Rage, thrall army, and support of four monarchs in the Borderlands were enough to convince them that yes, this a half-human could indeed become King of All Ghosts.

Well, they comforted themselves, at least he couldn't possibly be worse than Pariah.

The coronation itself didn't occur until a month after the hybrid's return to the Ghost Zone, mainly due to the immense organization required. They had to find places for all the visiting ambassadors, both human and ghostly. They needed to provide food and translators for the humans (not many mortals spoke Esperanto, the _lingua franca_ of the Ghost Zone), and to hide Pariah's Sarcophagus where it could never be found again.

Finally the day of the coronation arrived. Danny, exhausted, could hardly believe it. Was this really the day his half-life changed forever?

"You ready, little brother?" Jazz called softly. His head jerked up. He hadn't heard her approach. Not for the first time, the hybrid wished he had a human sense as well.

"You can't be late for your own coronation," Danielle's voice reminded him.

Smiling, Danny opened the door. "You're right. That would be really embarrassing, right?"

"Just a bit, yeah," his twin agreed.

Jazz's eyes filled with tears. "You look so handsome," she sniffed, and threw her arms around him. Danny turned beet red. Danni fought back a snicker. "My baby brother, all grown up and- and-" But here her voice trailed off, replaced by sobs of joy.

"Jazz," her brother groaned, patting her awkwardly on the back. "You're the top advisor to the Lord of the Underworld with a zillion scary-sounding titles of your own. Get a grip, okay?"

She kissed his head before disengaging. "Right," she hiccupped. "I'm just- so proud." A sniffle. "I wish…." She cut off with a flinch.

"I wish so too," her brother confessed.

His sister swallowed several times, wiped the tears from her eyes. "Right. It's not going to happen. So…." Her smile returned, bright and brilliant as ever. "Let's get this show on the road, okay?" His eyes glowed blue and green and teal. Rings split around his waist, changing his body into the form he had used to fight Dan.

Sisters at his heels, the High King of All Ghosts walked out to be crowned.

The remainder of the coronation passed in a brightly colored blur. He remembered cameras flashing… trumpets sounding… Sam, beyond gorgeous in her violet gown, standing between her parents… Tucker, PDA abandoned, grinning ear to ear, as his mother sobbed into a handkerchief… Valerie and Damien Gray, both in red, tears streaming from their eyes… Pandora, proud as any mother… Frostbite, crocodile tears dripping from his eyes… Dash in his soldier's uniform with a contingent of guards… Clockwork holding the Crown of Fire….

And then the Crown was on his head, and he was king in truth.

The guests cheered: deafening, cacophonous shouts of joy. Their cries went on and on and on; it seemed that the ecstatic din would never end.

Then the king raised his arms. The crowd fell silent, waiting eagerly.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

He had prepared a speech- yet another reason he'd needed two months to pull off this coronation- but looking out at the jubilant crowd, he tossed it into a mental garbage can. Screw the speech. He would speak from the heart.

"Things are going to change around here," he proclaimed.

He spoke for a long, long time, promising many things: peace with the Human World, international standards of justice, preservation of local customs (so long as they didn't violate an individual's most basic rights), strong trade, bliss….

He promised them that he would be their servant, wholly dedicated to their interests. He could not guarantee that he wouldn't make mistakes, but he would never, never make the same error twice. That he swore.

And those who knew him knew he spoke the truth. He had promised, and Danny Fenton-Phantom always kept his promises.

* * *

><p>It's... over. It's really over. My baby is all grown up.<p>

This is going to be a stand-alone fic. You guys guilted me into making a sequel for Kith and Kin, and I agreed because that universe has so much more POSSIBILITY. But there's not much of that here, because everyone's living happily ever after already. A sequel for Backpack would just be overkill.

Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, faved, or whatevered. You guys kept me going, y'know? You rock!

-Corona


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